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Post Office Box 1147
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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
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“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
46 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Silence of the Lambs
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News Excerpts
(Full news reports follow
Commentary)
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States with the
highest tax burdens, such as New York, Illinois, and
California, continue to lose residents this year as tax
rates have a significant effect on the growth and prosperity
of the states, economists say.
“The evidence is
clear that competitive tax rates, thoughtful regulations,
and responsible spending lead to more opportunities for all
Americans,” according to the “Rich States, Poor States”
report by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),
a conservative nonprofit organization.
The annual report
ranks states based on their competitiveness and economic
outlook by examining the policy choices made by the states
and their impact....
“It’s not just a
theory. This is really playing out in practice. And we see
Americans continue to move into Utah. And Utah is just
booming right now,” [Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s chief
economist] told the show “NTD Business.”
“We continue to
see this phenomenon where Americans vote with their feet. And they’re voting very strongly away from states with high
tax burdens and less economic opportunities,” he said.
The states that
gained the most in population over the past decade were
Texas (more than 1.2 million, 15th on the economic outlook
list) and Florida (more than 1.1 million, 7th on the list).
According to
Williams, these states provide a pro-business environment,
better tax policy, and more economic competition.
The bottom five
states on the economic outlook ranking were New York,
Vermont, New Jersey, Illinois, and California.
“When you look at
the bottom states again, you see those states that have the
highest tax rates, and they’re not phasing out, either,”
economist Arthur Laffer, who co-authored the report, said on
Aug. 11 during a webinar hosted by ALEC.
Both California
and New York, for example, have proposals for large tax
increases, he noted....
“You’re seeing
just a migration of people out of these high tax states,”
Stephen Moore, economist and a co-author of the ALEC report,
said during the webinar.
“And it’s really
putting stress on the budgets of these states like New York,
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. These states are
being kind of bled to death, year after year,” he said.
The Epoch Times
August 23, 2020
Americans Continue to Flee States With Higher Taxes
Massachusetts
unemployment checks will soon get $300 fatter thanks to a
federal grant amid the coronavirus crisis, according to the
state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
on Monday.
The Bay State —
with the country’s highest unemployment rate — has been
approved for the Lost Wages Assistance Grant. This will
result in Massachusetts receiving three weeks of Federal
Emergency Management Agency funds to pay an extra $300 per
week in unemployment benefits.
Recently, the
extra $600 in federal weekly unemployment benefits expired.
Then President
Trump signed an executive order to extend additional
benefits of $300 or $400 per week — depending on which plan
governors choose — to the unemployed.
Gov. Charlie Baker
last week signaled the state would apply to receive funds
under the new program....
Under Trump’s $400
per week plan, states are required to ante up 25% of the
added cost, or $100 per claimant in order to access the
extra federal benefit dollars.
But Massachusetts’
application indicates that the Bay State will not add the
extra $100 supplement.
Baker was recently
asked if the state could afford the additional $100, and he
noted how the state would have to dip into emergency aid
provided in the CARES Act.
About $900 million
from the CARES Act is “money that we made available to
communities to fund things like going back to school,” Baker
said. “So it’s coming out of a pot that most of us believe
is sort of already designated for a very particular purpose
that was consistent with the original intent of the
legislation.”
Massachusetts had
the nation’s highest unemployment rate in July at 16.1%,
according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report
released Friday.
Bay State
unemployment was down from 17.4% in June, but still far
above July’s national unemployment rate of 10.2%.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Massachusetts unemployment checks to get $300 boost
from feds amid coronavirus crisis
With the
Republican Party officially nominating President Donald
Trump for re-election this week, Gov. Charlie Baker said he
has not been invited to take part in the virtual or
in-person festivities surrounding the Republican National
Convention in Charlotte, and has plenty to do at home to
occupy his attention....
Baker, who has
never supported Trump, described himself as a member of the
"pragmatic and practical Republican Party."
"I certainly think
there are many colleagues of mine and state and federal
government, and local government, who fall in the same
category," he said.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Baker Sees Many in GOP’s “Pragmatic and Practical” Wing
You won’t find
Gov. Charlie Baker anywhere near this week’s Republican
National Convention — in fact Baker and the national party
are going out of their way to keep a long distance from each
other.
“I haven’t been
(invited) and honestly I’m a lot more focused on what’s
going on in Massachusetts right now,” Baker said on Tuesday
when asked about the RNC. “There’s plenty to do to keep us
busy around here and by the way, of course, the Bruins and
Celtics are both in the playoffs.”
Ouch. What a burn.
Baker, a
Republican, was not asked to speak at the convention because
at times has been a strong critic of President Trump. He
avoided the 2016 convention because of Trump so it’s no
surprise he’s acting like he’s barely in the party.
“I would describe
myself as a member of the pragmatic and practical Republican
party,” he said.
Unfortunately for
Baker, there is no “pragmatic” or “practical” delegation at
the convention — and if there were it would be an awfully
boring bunch....
You’d think Baker
would be a perfect example for Republicans to showcase
because he’s a successful GOP governor who got re-elected in
a heavily Democratic state.
But because of
Baker’s obvious dislike of Trump, that’s not a great match.
Trump Republicans
in fact have been trying to undercut Baker, highlighting
Massachusetts’ high unemployment rate to raise questions
about the governor’s leadership during the coronavirus
pandemic....
Baker in fact did
take advantage of a Trump administration offer to provide an
extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Charlie Baker not invited to Republican convention,
and he’s fine with snub
By Joe Battenfeld
Why doesn’t Gov.
Charlie Baker just get it over with and switch parties and
become a Democrat?
By the numbers,
he’s the worst governor in America.
Highest
unemployment rate in the U.S.: 16.1%.
Third-highest
death rate in the U.S.: 131 per 100,000.
Of the 8,791
deaths in Massachusetts, 5,781 have been in the nursing
homes the governor is responsible for keeping safe.
And the
nursing-home slaughter continues unabated — 26 of the last
36 deaths this week have occurred in those same death houses
whose operators gave $52,000 to the governor Joe Biden calls
“Charlie Parker.”
Average age of
Massachusetts decedents: 85. Charlie Parker’s prescription?
Pinball machines (but not casinos) shut down, no high-school
athletics.
And now his latest
overreach — mandatory flu shots for most children over the
age of six months.
No hearings, no
legislation, no expiration date — just another imperious,
tyrannical order, to be enforced selectively against any
parent who gets out of line and needs to be slapped down,
like a gym owner who wants to reopen.
You can’t get much
more Democrat than that. Everything not outlawed is
mandatory.
Charlie Parker has
set up a new super PAC, with $1.2 million, to funnel money
to his favorite candidates in Tuesday’s primaries.
Would you be surprised to learn that most of the money is
going to dodgy Democrats? ...
The primary
elections are Tuesday. Be sure to go out and vote for
Charlie Parker’s favorite Democrats.
Charlie Parker,
D-MA. The D stands for Democrat … and dunce.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, August 20, 2020
Charlie Baker should become a Democrat and stop kidding
himself
By Howie Carr
The virus didn't
take the summer off. The anxiety and pain of unemployment
for more than half a million people in Massachusetts didn't
take the summer off. The worrisome uncertainty around
pocketbook issues for residents and the state itself didn't
take the summer off. The discrimination and injustice that
Black Americans too often face didn't take the summer off.
No, each of those
problems has persisted and morphed since the Massachusetts
Legislature made an end-of-July push to get partial remedies
for some aspects of them into the red zone. Since the end of
July, lawmakers say they have been negotiating compromise
policing reform and economic development bills, and the
state is a third of the way through a temporary budget
without much more clarity on what, if any, assistance will
be coming from the feds.
Meanwhile,
Massachusetts has the worst unemployment rate in the nation,
job losses have most severely hurt cities and communities of
color, the University of Massachusetts flagship is
furloughing hundreds of workers in hopes of reducing how
many it has to lay off, the shooting of another Black man by
police brought the sports world to a halt, and the
coronavirus death toll surpassed 9,000 in Massachusetts.
In other words:
since the Legislature largely went dormant for its
regularly-scheduled August vacation, the pressure has been
mounting to finish the work. The table is set for a
fascinating fall on Beacon Hill....
Gov. Charlie Baker
and Democratic legislative leaders in June agreed to make a
push to enact an accountability bill by July 31, but the
House and Senate versions (H 4886 and S 2820) weren't sent
to a conference committee until July 27. When it was clear
no compromise would be reached before August rolled around,
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka
said the conferees would take whatever time they need "to
get it right."
Now free of any
specific deadline, the legislation to license law
enforcement officers and hold them accountable for
misconduct has been under private negotiations for more than
a month. It has been discussed by the president in the White
House Cabinet Room, police unions have stepped up their
criticism of the bills, and another instance in which a
white police officer shot a Black man has commanded the
country's attention.
A second
conference committee has been ironing out a consensus
economic development bill since July 30 that lawmakers hope
can staunch some of the economic bleeding brought on by the
COVID-19 pandemic. It's a pretty safe bet that the
Legislature will approve a jobs bill worth a few hundred
million dollars in every even-numbered (read: election)
year. But this one, coming while the state deals with a
public health crisis that set off economic chaos, carries
new and significant weight....
Data from the
Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development this
week showed Massachusetts is stuck in a recession that is
making worse the state's existing racial and geographic
inequality. UMass Amherst announced Thursday that the
"incredible financial cost" of not fully reopening its
campus has led to $169 million in budget losses. To deal
with the issue, UMass is placing 850 workers, including
dining and residence hall staff, on indefinite furlough
Sept. 13. About 450 more furloughs -- and some permanent
layoffs -- may still be on the horizon.
The MBTA is
looking into the possibility of raising fares and laying off
employees as it stares down a projected deficit of between
$308 million and $577 million in fiscal year 2022. Another
legislative proposal to authorize about $18 billion in
borrowing for transportation projects, which could give a
boost to public works employment, is similarly hung up in
conference committee talks....
A budget for
fiscal year 2021, which began July 1, would typically be in
place by now. Instead, Massachusetts is running on a $16.53
billion interim budget that will keep state government
operating through at least October, and there's little in
the way of a plan for addressing the rest of the year.
State House News
Service
Friday, August 28, 2020
Weekly Roundup - The Difference a Month Can Make
Tuesday's
primaries mean the general election races will soon be set,
and with Democrats and Republicans done with their virtual
national conventions, the battle between President Donald
Trump and Democrat Joe Biden will begin to intensify and
occupy much of the energy in the weeks ahead.
The Legislature
still has two months left on its interim fiscal 2021 budget
- coincidence or not, they approved enough funds to keep the
state running through the general election cycle.
Lawmakers failed
during August to reach agreements on major policing reform,
climate change, economic development, transportation and
health care. While there's urgency around all of those
bills, especially with the state having the nation's highest
unemployment rate, there's the potential for political peril
if votes are called on those matters before the Nov. 3
election and lawmakers must not only find agreement on key
details of those bills but on when to roll them out - before
the election or during lame-duck sessions after the
election.
SALES TAX HOLIDAY:
Consumers get a holiday from the state sales tax this
weekend -- on most retail items less than $2,500. This
year's tax holiday weekend lands as stores are seeking
customers as they try to recover from pandemic-related
shutdowns. The Department of Revenue estimated that last
year's sales tax holiday resulted in between $20 million and
$35.7 million in lost tax revenue, which instead accrued to
consumers as savings on purchases. DOR pegged the 2018
holiday at between $16.7 million and $37.7 million in
foregone revenue. A sales tax holiday was long a traditional
summertime gift from lawmakers to consumers and businesses,
but was permanently enshrined on the calendar in 2018 under
a 2018 law that also addressed paid family and medical
leave. (Saturday, Aug. 29 through Sunday, Aug. 30)
State House News
Service
Friday, August 28, 2020
Advances - Week of Aug. 30, 2020
I have seen the
future of the 2020 elections, and it ain’t pretty....
This unfolding
disaster going to make the Florida hanging-chad fiasco of
2000 look like a day at the beach.
Over the next few
weeks, and probably long after election day on Nov. 3, these
kinds of election hearings will be held across the country …
preening public-defender type lawyers pompously declaiming
that everyone, yes, Your Honor, everyone must be permitted
to vote, even if they’re … dead … or illegal … or felons …
or have already voted two or three times in other
jurisdictions.
And judges, many
of whom apparently haven’t set foot outside their palatial
mansions in six months, will be dithering, making profound
statements like “all sorts of things are going on,” which
Justice Kimberly S. Budd did actually say Monday.
Some of the SJC
justices even seemed shocked, shocked to learn that
sometimes mail entrusted to the Post Office isn’t delivered
in a timely fashion — “we didn’t know there were going to be
all these problems!” one of them said.
Tuesday, the
secretary of state was back in front of the SJC, this time
in front of a single justice, answering a lawsuit by some
disabled group which is also claiming that some of their
plaintiffs, or failing that, an “affiant” or two, may be
grievously inconvenienced by the current election
schedule....
We understand most
of the Democrats trying to game this COVID-19 panic into
chaos and a Joe Biden victory don’t care about the
military....
The Department of
Justice weighed in on Monday about the 45-day legal
requirement, reminding the SJC of their responsibilities.
Next stop: federal court....
When you get right
down to it, other than the Democrat U.S. Senate primary, who
really cares about any of the primary races in Massachusetts
next week?
Already, President
Trump has incorporated into his standard campaign stump
speech the recent rampant voter fraud in Paterson, N.J., not
to mention the six weeks of chaos in counting the Democrat
primary vote in the 12th Congressional District of New York.
And now this.
Coming soon to a
courtroom near you — election-year chaos.
Mr. President, you
ain’t seen nothing yet.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Coming soon to a courtroom near you – election-year chaos
By Howie Carr
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
On July 30 the State House News Service
reported ("Historic
Legislative Session To Continue Beyond Traditional Deadline"):
Virtually every
legislative session ends after a rush to wrap up work on complex
— and,
often, procrastinated —
bills, and after experiencing an unprecedented disruption due to the
COVID-19 outbreak that hit Massachusetts in March, legislative
leaders opted to give themselves more time and flexibility to
complete critical work.
Now, they will
have about five more months in which they can call the full House
and Senate rosters into session for roll call votes on
pandemic-related bills, a spending plan and other business that may
arise.
Formal sessions
can now run effectively until the next makeup of the Legislature is
inaugurated.
On August 3 the News Service added ("Beacon
Hill Awaits “Magic” From Conference Committees"):
The calendar in an
election year said August, but for the first time in 25 years
legislators did not know if or when they might be called back to
Beacon Hill to vote on highly sensitive and important bills dealing
with everything from police reform and climate change to how to
spend billions of tax dollars on transportation in the coming years.
Those with
re-election challenges returned to the trail knowing that the record
voters will judge them on later this summer and fall is not
complete, and those negotiating legislation on behalf of their House
and Senate colleagues no longer have a looming deadline, giving them
more flexibility, but also less of an incentive to compromise
quickly.
The current status of the Legislature and
the five bills still in conference committee, according to the State
House News Service's Weekly Roundup:
The virus didn't
take the summer off. The anxiety and pain of unemployment for
more than half a million people in Massachusetts didn't take the
summer off. The worrisome uncertainty around pocketbook issues
for residents and the state itself didn't take the summer off.
The discrimination and injustice that Black Americans too often face
didn't take the summer off.
No, each of those
problems has persisted and morphed since the Massachusetts
Legislature made an end-of-July push to get partial remedies for
some aspects of them into the red zone. Since the end of July,
lawmakers say they have been negotiating compromise policing reform
and economic development bills, and the state is a third of the way
through a temporary budget without much more clarity on what, if
any, assistance will be coming from the feds.
Meanwhile,
Massachusetts has the worst unemployment rate in the nation, job
losses have most severely hurt cities and communities of color, the
University of Massachusetts flagship is furloughing hundreds of
workers in hopes of reducing how many it has to lay off, the
shooting of another Black man by police brought the sports world to
a halt, and the coronavirus death toll surpassed 9,000 in
Massachusetts.
In other words:
since the Legislature largely went dormant for its
regularly-scheduled August vacation, the pressure has been mounting
to finish the work. The table is set for a fascinating fall on
Beacon Hill. . . .
Now free of any
specific deadline, the legislation to license law enforcement
officers and hold them accountable for misconduct has been under
private negotiations for more than a month. It has been
discussed by the president in the White House Cabinet Room, police
unions have stepped up their criticism of the bills, and another
instance in which a white police officer shot a Black man has
commanded the country's attention.
A second
conference committee has been ironing out a consensus economic
development bill since July 30 that lawmakers hope can staunch some
of the economic bleeding brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's a pretty safe bet that the Legislature will approve a jobs bill
worth a few hundred million dollars in every even-numbered (read:
election) year. But this one, coming while the state deals
with a public health crisis that set off economic chaos, carries new
and significant weight.
Giving established procrastinators more
time to procrastinate only leads to further procrastination. Throw
in an upcoming election where recorded votes could make or break
re-election hopes (among those with any opposition) and the writing is
on the wall. I predict another (usual) eleventh-hour,
middle-of-the-night, rubber-stamp rushed passage of everything the five
conference committees disgorge, after November 3.
There are only six Transportation Bond Bill conference committee
members, and now only they can prevent the stealth assault on
Proposition 2½. They and they alone hold its fate in their
hands. Whatever they decree will be rubber-stamped into law.
There is still time to contact members of the Transportation Conference
Committee and tell them to remove Section 5 (the stealth assault on
Proposition 2 ½)
from the Transportation Bond Bill.
It does not belong
in a bond bill, if anywhere.
There is still time to contact each of them and plead for consideration,
and mercy.
In the last CLT Update I included a State
House News Service report from August 19, "Wary of Census Undercounts,
Galvin Working With Cities."
In my commentary I noted:
Secretary of State Bill
Galvin is frantically scrambling to find as many warm bodies in
Massachusetts as he can uncover as the 2020 census window is
slamming shut next month. He's sent his legions of body-counters out
to the so-called "gateway cities" across the state like ICE agents,
rounding up "international immigrants" that make up the Bay State's
only population influx. The desperation is telling.
I referred to my earlier
CLT Update commentary on January 5:
Massachusetts continues to lose its productive
taxpayer population according to a recently released
U.S. Census Bureau report. The Bay State Diaspora
continues.
"Despite the overall increase, Massachusetts was one
of 27 states that lost population through net
domestic migration, the movement of people to other
states," the State House News Service reported last
week. "Domestic migration drove the population
decrease in the Northeast, the Census Bureau
said.... The South, meanwhile, experienced the
largest regional population growth from 2018 to
2019, rising by more than 1 million people to
125,580,448, primarily due to natural increase and
domestic migration."
Now comes another study
showing why high-tax, high-spending, over-regulated
states are hemorrhaging mobile productive citizens.
The Epoch Times reported last Sunday ("Americans
Continue to Flee States With Higher Taxes"):
States with the highest tax burdens, such as New
York, Illinois, and California, continue to lose
residents this year as tax rates have a significant
effect on the growth and prosperity of the states,
economists say.
“The evidence is clear that competitive tax rates,
thoughtful regulations, and responsible spending
lead to more opportunities for all Americans,”
according to the “Rich
States, Poor States” report by the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative
nonprofit organization. . . .
“It’s not just a theory. This is really playing out
in practice. And we see Americans continue to move
into Utah. And Utah is just booming right now,”
[Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s chief economist] told the
show “NTD Business.”
“We continue to see this phenomenon where Americans
vote with their feet. And they’re voting very
strongly away from states with high tax burdens and
less economic opportunities,” he said.
The states that gained the most in population over
the past decade were Texas (more than 1.2 million,
15th on the economic outlook list) and Florida (more
than 1.1 million, 7th on the list).
According to Williams, these states provide a
pro-business environment, better tax policy, and
more economic competition.
Massachusetts ranks #35 in this report
— meaning that only fifteen
states are worse in attracting and keeping productive
taxpaying businesses and employees.
Not to worry,
according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin:
Galvin said that while
the state continues to lose residents to other states, those loses
are more than offset by international immigration. "These numbers
show how important it is that we ensure every person in
Massachusetts is counted in the 2020 Census, whether or not they are
United States citizens," Galvin said.
With its high taxes, unrestrained spending,
and a mountain of regulations from every direction, Massachusetts has
the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 16.1% compared to the
national rate of 10.2% — more than 50% higher.
The state's unemployment insurance trust fund is running on fumes if it
hasn't yet been completely drained. The situation is so dire under
Charlie Baker's lockdown that the governor went hat-in-hand to President
Trump for a temporary reprieve through Trump's executive order, a
federal bailout of $300/week per unemployed former-worker. It
seems that Baker will get that free money from the federal taxpayers
without the state needing to kick in its $100 share
— at least that's what Baker has proposed.
I wonder how that will work out?
By the way, the state is still sitting on
that untouched $3.5 billion safely ensconced in its "rainy day fund"
— stashed away for emergencies. If this
Wuhan Flu doesn't qualify, what are they waiting for — an asteroid to
blast into Earth?
The Boston Herald reported on Wednesday
("Charlie Baker not invited to Republican convention, and he’s fine with
snub"):
You won’t find Gov. Charlie
Baker anywhere near this week’s Republican National
Convention — in fact Baker and the national party
are going out of their way to keep a long distance
from each other.
“I haven’t been (invited) and
honestly I’m a lot more focused on what’s going on
in Massachusetts right now,” Baker said on Tuesday
when asked about the RNC. “There’s plenty to do to
keep us busy around here and by the way, of course,
the Bruins and Celtics are both in the playoffs.”
Ouch. What a burn.
Baker, a Republican, was not
asked to speak at the convention because at times
has been a strong critic of President Trump. He
avoided the 2016 convention because of Trump so it’s
no surprise he’s acting like he’s barely in the
party.
The State House News Service
reported on Tuesday ("Baker Sees Many in GOP’s “Pragmatic and Practical”
Wing):
With
the Republican Party officially nominating President Donald Trump
for re-election this week, Gov. Charlie Baker said he has not been
invited to take part in the virtual or in-person festivities
surrounding the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, and has
plenty to do at home to occupy his attention. . . .
Baker, who has never supported Trump, described himself as a member
of the "pragmatic and practical Republican Party."
Meaning, as with so many
establishment Republican presidential candidates before Donald Trump, like John
McCain and Mitt Romney, Charlie Baker prefers the GOP losing campaigns
for the nation's highest office.
In his Boston Herald column
today ("Charlie Baker should become a Democrat and stop kidding
himself") Howie Carr asked the question we've all been asking:
Why
doesn’t Gov. Charlie Baker just get it over with and switch parties
and become a Democrat? . . .
Charlie Parker has set up a new super PAC, with $1.2 million, to
funnel money to his favorite candidates in Tuesday’s primaries.
Would you be surprised to learn that most of the money is going to
dodgy Democrats? . . .
The
primary elections are Tuesday. Be sure to go out and vote for
Charlie Parker’s favorite Democrats.
Charlie Parker, D-MA. The D stands for Democrat … and dunce.
Before closing this Update, here's an
excerpted preview of coming attractions, also delivered by Boston Herald
columnist and WRKO talk-show host Howie Carr: "Coming soon to a
courtroom near you – election-year chaos":
I have seen the future
of the 2020 elections, and it ain’t pretty....
This unfolding disaster
is going to make the Florida hanging-chad fiasco of 2000 look like a
day at the beach.
Over the next few
weeks, and probably long after election day on Nov. 3, these kinds
of election hearings will be held across the country … preening
public-defender type lawyers pompously declaiming that everyone,
yes, Your Honor, everyone must be permitted to vote, even if they’re
… dead … or illegal … or felons … or have already voted two or three
times in other jurisdictions.
And judges, many of
whom apparently haven’t set foot outside their palatial mansions in
six months, will be dithering, making profound statements like “all
sorts of things are going on,” which Justice Kimberly S. Budd did
actually say Monday.
Some of the SJC
justices even seemed shocked, shocked to learn that sometimes mail
entrusted to the Post Office isn’t delivered in a timely fashion —
“we didn’t know there were going to be all these problems!” one of
them said.
Tuesday, the secretary
of state was back in front of the SJC, this time in front of a
single justice, answering a lawsuit by some disabled group which is
also claiming that some of their plaintiffs, or failing that, an
“affiant” or two, may be grievously inconvenienced by the current
election schedule....
We understand most of
the Democrats trying to game this COVID-19 panic into chaos and a
Joe Biden victory don’t care about the military....
The Department of
Justice weighed in on Monday about the 45-day legal requirement,
reminding the SJC of their responsibilities. Next stop: federal
court....
When you get right down
to it, other than the Democrat U.S. Senate primary, who really cares
about any of the primary races in Massachusetts next week?
Already, President
Trump has incorporated into his standard campaign stump speech the
recent rampant voter fraud in Paterson, N.J., not to mention the six
weeks of chaos in counting the Democrat primary vote in the 12th
Congressional District of New York. And now this.
Coming soon to a
courtroom near you — election-year chaos.
Mr. President, you
ain’t seen nothing yet.
While working on this CLT Update since
early morning I had Fox
News on in the background. Howie Kurtz of MediaBuzz had pollster
Frank Luntz on as his guest. I just chased down the interview
video then transcribed the final minute which follows:
Howie Kurtz:
Do you think as somebody who has studied this for decades that we
will know who won this election on election night?
Frank Luntz:
The Republicans are telling people to vote at the ballot box, and so
I'm expecting Donald Trump to be leading on election night.
The Democrats are
telling people to vote by mail, and so we may not know on election
night who the winner is, and in fact, you can have a situation where
Donald Trump wins on election night but because of all the things
that happen in the days that follow that Joe Biden is declared the
winner.
I am scared —
deathly scared — of what's gonna happen to our democracy if we
have one president on Tuesday evening and a different president
Thursday or Friday. We already saw what we went through in the
year 2000 when it was too close to call. We are much angrier
now, much more divided now — God help us if that's the
situation.
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Chip Ford
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Full News Reports Follow
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The
Epoch Times
August 23, 2020
Americans Continue to Flee States With Higher Taxes
By Emel Akan
WASHINGTON—States with the highest tax burdens, such as New
York, Illinois, and California, continue to lose residents
this year as tax rates have a significant effect on the
growth and prosperity of the states, economists say.
“The evidence is clear that competitive tax rates,
thoughtful regulations, and responsible spending lead to
more opportunities for all Americans,” according to the
“Rich States, Poor States” report by the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative
nonprofit organization.
The annual report ranks states based on their
competitiveness and economic outlook by examining the policy
choices made by the states and their impact.
In 2019, Utah ranked No. 1 for economic outlook, followed by
Wyoming, Idaho, Indiana, and North Carolina; the state has
earned the top ranking for 13 consecutive years.
According to Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s chief economist, Utah
has implemented many reforms “that have been ahead of the
curve.”
Utah’s lawmakers saw the unfunded liability problem in the
state pension system and took bold actions to fix it after
the financial crisis of 2008. The state also revised its
property tax system.
“It’s not just a theory. This is really playing out in
practice. And we see Americans continue to move into Utah.
And Utah is just booming right now,” Williams told the show
“NTD Business.”
“We continue to see this phenomenon where Americans vote
with their feet. And they’re voting very strongly away from
states with high tax burdens and less economic
opportunities,” he said.
The states that gained the most in population over the past
decade were Texas (more than 1.2 million, 15th on the
economic outlook list) and Florida (more than 1.1 million,
7th on the list).
According to Williams, these states provide a pro-business
environment, better tax policy, and more economic
competition.
The bottom five states on the economic outlook ranking were
New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Illinois, and California.
“When you look at the bottom states again, you see those
states that have the highest tax rates, and they’re not
phasing out, either,” economist Arthur Laffer, who
co-authored the report, said on Aug. 11 during a webinar
hosted by ALEC.
Both California and New York, for example, have proposals
for large tax increases, he noted.
New York is “a treasure for America,” but “even treasures
can have their gooses cooked over taxes, and I think that’s
what you’re really seeing here,” Laffer said.
New York maintains the second-highest top marginal personal
income tax rate and the highest top marginal corporate
income tax rate, according to the report. The state lost
more than 1.3 million residents between 2009 and 2018 to
more economically competitive states.
The report also shows that big reforms have significantly
helped states such as Wyoming, Oklahoma, Wisconsin,
Delaware, and Montana. These states improved their national
rankings in 2019 by keeping their spending in check, which
allowed them to reduce tax burdens, Williams said.
“You’re seeing just a migration of people out of these high
tax states,” Stephen Moore, economist and a co-author of the
ALEC report, said during the webinar.
“And it’s really putting stress on the budgets of these
states like New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode
Island. These states are being kind of bled to death, year
after year,” he said.
According to Moore, despite the pandemic, several states,
including Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, have
already balanced their budgets this year without massive
income taxes.
The report illustrates each states’ competitiveness and
economic outlook using 15 equally weighted policy variables,
including tax rates, regulations, spending, and
right-to-work labor policy. It also examines trends from
past decades as well as policy choices made in 2019.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Massachusetts unemployment checks to get $300 boost
from feds amid coronavirus crisis
The extra $600 benefit expired in July
By Rick Sobey
Massachusetts unemployment checks will soon get $300 fatter
thanks to a federal grant amid the coronavirus crisis,
according to the state’s Executive Office of Labor and
Workforce Development on Monday.
The Bay State — with the country’s highest unemployment rate
— has been approved for the Lost Wages Assistance Grant.
This will result in Massachusetts receiving three weeks of
Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to pay an extra
$300 per week in unemployment benefits.
Recently, the extra $600 in federal weekly unemployment
benefits expired.
Then President Trump signed an executive order to extend
additional benefits of $300 or $400 per week — depending on
which plan governors choose — to the unemployed.
Gov. Charlie Baker last week signaled the state would apply
to receive funds under the new program.
The state’s application was submitted late last week by the
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, in coordination
with the Department of Unemployment Assistance.
“Per FEMA’s authorization, the grant will fund an additional
$300 weekly payment to those who are eligible for the three
weeks ending 8/1/20, 8/8/20, and 8/15/20,” the Executive
Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a
statement. “The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment
Assistance has already begun work on the technology
requirements necessary for this program and anticipates
being able to quickly deliver retroactive funds to eligible
claimants in the coming weeks.
“Most claimants currently receiving benefits do not need to
take any action because the Commonwealth will automatically
add LWA to their weekly benefit payment retroactive to the
dates they are eligible,” the statement said.
Under Trump’s $400 per week plan, states are required to
ante up 25% of the added cost, or $100 per claimant in order
to access the extra federal benefit dollars.
But Massachusetts’ application indicates that the Bay State
will not add the extra $100 supplement.
Baker was recently asked if the state could afford the
additional $100, and he noted how the state would have to
dip into emergency aid provided in the CARES Act.
About $900 million from the CARES Act is “money that we made
available to communities to fund things like going back to
school,” Baker said. “So it’s coming out of a pot that most
of us believe is sort of already designated for a very
particular purpose that was consistent with the original
intent of the legislation.”
Massachusetts had the nation’s highest unemployment rate in
July at 16.1%, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics report released Friday.
Bay State unemployment was down from 17.4% in June, but
still far above July’s national unemployment rate of 10.2%.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Baker Sees Many in GOP’s “Pragmatic and Practical” Wing
By Matt Murphy
With the Republican Party officially nominating President
Donald Trump for re-election this week, Gov. Charlie Baker
said he has not been invited to take part in the virtual or
in-person festivities surrounding the Republican National
Convention in Charlotte, and has plenty to do at home to
occupy his attention.
"Honestly, I'm a lot more focused on what's going on in
Massachusetts right now," Baker said Tuesday, during a press
conference at the WheelWorks bike shop in Belmont.
He listed ongoing work dealing with COVID-19 and the
economy, the state budget, and the return to school for
elementary, secondary and college students. "And by the way,
of course the Bruins and the Celtics are both in the
playoffs," he said.
Baker, who has never supported Trump, described himself as a
member of the "pragmatic and practical Republican Party."
"I certainly think there are many colleagues of mine and
state and federal government, and local government, who fall
in the same category," he said.
One of the things Baker said he would like to see come out
of Washington is a deal before the November election on a
stimulus package for states that would also help pay for
enhance unemployment benefits. Trump extended the enhanced
jobless benefits at $300 a month, cutting by half the amount
provided for by the CARES Act earlier in the pandemic.
"I sure wish they would get around to doing something, and I
put this on both parties, with respect to creating a relief
package to deal with the unemployment, the extension of the
unemployment benefits for people, and the stimulus for state
and local government," Baker said.
The Democrat-controlled House has passed a $3 trillion
relief bill that included $500 billion for states, but
Senate Republicans proposed a smaller $1 trillion package.
"I really hope at some point before we get to the election
they come back and do this because a lot of people made a
lot of commitments around this and I would really like to
see them follow through and execute on it," the governor
said.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Charlie Baker not invited to Republican convention, and he’s
fine with snub
By Joe Battenfeld
You won’t find Gov. Charlie Baker anywhere near this week’s
Republican National Convention — in fact Baker and the
national party are going out of their way to keep a long
distance from each other.
“I haven’t been (invited) and honestly I’m a lot more
focused on what’s going on in Massachusetts right now,”
Baker said on Tuesday when asked about the RNC. “There’s
plenty to do to keep us busy around here and by the way, of
course, the Bruins and Celtics are both in the playoffs.”
Ouch. What a burn.
Baker, a Republican, was not asked to speak at the
convention because at times has been a strong critic of
President Trump. He avoided the 2016 convention because of
Trump so it’s no surprise he’s acting like he’s barely in
the party.
“I would describe myself as a member of the pragmatic and
practical Republican party,” he said.
Unfortunately for Baker, there is no “pragmatic” or
“practical” delegation at the convention — and if there were
it would be an awfully boring bunch.
In fact, only six of the more than 40 delegates from
Massachusetts are attending the convention in Charlotte,
which is mostly virtual. That’s too bad because four years
ago, the Trump delegates from Massachusetts feuded with the
non-Trump delegates, providing a close up look at the split
in the party. No such dispute this year because there are no
non-Trump delegates — he won all of them.
You’d think Baker would be a perfect example for Republicans
to showcase because he’s a successful GOP governor who got
re-elected in a heavily Democratic state.
But because of Baker’s obvious dislike of Trump, that’s not
a great match.
Trump Republicans in fact have been trying to undercut
Baker, highlighting Massachusetts’ high unemployment rate to
raise questions about the governor’s leadership during the
coronavirus pandemic.
And Baker has made it clear that he doesn’t like the way the
Trump administration or the Democratic party is operating.
“I’ve said before one of my biggest problems with Washington
is I feel like people spend most of their time trying to
convince you about who they’re against and who their enemies
are, and I wish they would spend a lot more time worrying
about the fact that they represent all of the people of the
U.S.,” Baker said. “And I sure wish they would get around to
doing something, and I would put this on both parties, with
respect to creating a relief package to deal with the
extension of the unemployment benefits for people, and the
stimulus for state and local government.
“And I really hope that at some point, before we get to the
election, that they come back and do this,” he added. “A lot
of people made a lot of commitments around this, and I would
really like to see them follow through and execute on it.”
Baker in fact did take advantage of a Trump administration
offer to provide an extra $300 a week in unemployment
benefits.
The Boston
Herald
Sunday, August 20, 2020
Charlie Baker should become a Democrat and stop kidding
himself
By Howie Carr
Why doesn’t Gov. Charlie Baker just get it over with and
switch parties and become a Democrat?
By the numbers, he’s the worst governor in America.
Highest unemployment rate in the U.S.: 16.1%.
Third-highest death rate in the U.S.: 131 per 100,000.
Of the 8,791 deaths in Massachusetts, 5,781 have been in the
nursing homes the governor is responsible for keeping safe.
And the nursing-home slaughter continues unabated — 26 of
the last 36 deaths this week have occurred in those same
death houses whose operators gave $52,000 to the governor
Joe Biden calls “Charlie Parker.”
Average age of Massachusetts decedents: 85. Charlie Parker’s
prescription? Pinball machines (but not casinos) shut down,
no high-school athletics.
And now his latest overreach — mandatory flu shots for most
children over the age of six months.
No hearings, no legislation, no expiration date — just
another imperious, tyrannical order, to be enforced
selectively against any parent who gets out of line and
needs to be slapped down, like a gym owner who wants to
reopen.
You can’t get much more Democrat than that. Everything not
outlawed is mandatory.
Charlie Parker has set up a new super PAC, with $1.2
million, to funnel money to his favorite candidates in
Tuesday’s primaries. Would you be surprised to learn that
most of the money is going to dodgy Democrats?
The governor handed thousands worth of mailings to Rep.
Jolly John Rogers of Norwood.
Remember him? When the first of the state’s felonious
speakers, Good Time Charlie Flaherty, was convicted of
income-tax evasion, Rogers compared Flaherty’s guilty plea
to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
But Tall Deval’s PAC spent the really big bucks — almost
$70,000 — on mailings for two Democrat candidates for the
obscure Governor’s Council. How important is the Governor’s
Council to a shady operator like Tall Deval?
Well, Gov. James Michael Curley used to call the Council a
“hock shop,” and nothing has changed.
The Council approves the governor’s nominations of judges
and clerk-magistrates, and that’s where the real shakedown
money is — from bust-out lawyers seeking early retirement as
$184,694-a-year judges, as well as from any wannabe hacks
grasping for a clerk’s job ($155,084, and no mandatory
retirement).
But a judicial nomination isn’t worth much do-re-mi unless
the cash ‘n’ carry Parker administration can guarantee the
marks rubber-stamp approval by the Council, with no
troublesome reformers inquiring about, say, qualifications.
Moving along, as you know this is the annual “tax-free”
weekend here in Maskachusetts. It’s a law, not that laws
mean much to Charlie Parker anymore.
But if the tax-free weekend weren’t mandated by statute, is
there any doubt that Tall Deval would have ended the
tradition, claiming the state is broke, which it is.
But this week, on the occasion of the tax-free weekend,
Charlie had the gall to shed crocodile tears for the
businesses he’s destroyed.
“This year we’ve asked obviously a tremendous amount from
our business community here in Massachusetts and we’ve been
glad to see so many shops uh and local businesses get
creative and adapt and find a way to adapt and evolve … they
had to make many difficult decisions along the way.”
Yeah, difficult decisions like going out of business. Filing
for bankruptcy. Firing their employees. Moving out of state
… to America.
Charlie Parker asking his subjects to support the few
remaining businesses that he hasn’t gotten around to
wrecking is like the old story about the guy who kills both
his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the
court on the grounds that he’s an orphan.
“I think it would be great if everybody who’s looking to buy
pretty much anything um that they’ve been putting off or
they might do at some point down the road to find a way to
go out and make that purchase this weekend.”
Good idea, I think I’ll go out and buy a couple of cartons
of menthol cigarettes — oh, that’s right, Charlie Parker
outlawed Newports too.
“Certain sectors of our economy um they are paying an
incredibly steep price, an incredibly painful and steep
price for COVID and for a lot of the restrictions and
rules.”
Certain sectors of the economy, however, are not suffering
in the least. Like, Charlie Parker’s hackerama —the
judiciary, Massport and all the other hack agencies,
including higher ed.
This week UMass finally announced layoffs, although of
course none of the $200,000-plus academic frauds will lose
their no-show jobs. The layoffs will fall on “mostly dining
hall workers and residence hall operations staff.”
You know, cafeteria workers and janitors. Too bad they don’t
have “vice chancellor” or “sustainability” or “diversity” in
their job titles.
We’re all in this together, you know. That’s what Charlie
Parker always tells us.
By the way, Saturday would have been the 100th birthday of
the real Charlie Parker, the greatest jazz saxophonist of
all time. Happy birthday, Bird, and I apologize for Joe
Biden taking your name in vain.
The primary elections are Tuesday. Be sure to go out and
vote for Charlie Parker’s favorite Democrats.
Charlie Parker, D-MA. The D stands for Democrat … and dunce.
State House
News Service
Friday, August 28, 2020
Weekly Roundup - The Difference a Month Can Make
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Colin A. Young
The virus didn't take the summer off. The anxiety and pain
of unemployment for more than half a million people in
Massachusetts didn't take the summer off. The worrisome
uncertainty around pocketbook issues for residents and the
state itself didn't take the summer off. The discrimination
and injustice that Black Americans too often face didn't
take the summer off.
No, each of those problems has persisted and morphed since
the Massachusetts Legislature made an end-of-July push to
get partial remedies for some aspects of them into the red
zone. Since the end of July, lawmakers say they have been
negotiating compromise policing reform and economic
development bills, and the state is a third of the way
through a temporary budget without much more clarity on
what, if any, assistance will be coming from the feds.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts has the worst unemployment rate in
the nation, job losses have most severely hurt cities and
communities of color, the University of Massachusetts
flagship is furloughing hundreds of workers in hopes of
reducing how many it has to lay off, the shooting of another
Black man by police brought the sports world to a halt, and
the coronavirus death toll surpassed 9,000 in Massachusetts.
In other words: since the Legislature largely went dormant
for its regularly-scheduled August vacation, the pressure
has been mounting to finish the work. The table is set for a
fascinating fall on Beacon Hill.
"I'm not sure what the holdup is," Boston Mayor Martin Walsh
said this week when asked about the status of State House
negotiations around policing reform. "Certainly we'll see
what happens if that legislation passes."
Gov. Charlie Baker and Democratic legislative leaders in
June agreed to make a push to enact an accountability bill
by July 31, but the House and Senate versions (H 4886 and S
2820) weren't sent to a conference committee until July 27.
When it was clear no compromise would be reached before
August rolled around, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate
President Karen Spilka said the conferees would take
whatever time they need "to get it right."
Now free of any specific deadline, the legislation to
license law enforcement officers and hold them accountable
for misconduct has been under private negotiations for more
than a month. It has been discussed by the president in the
White House Cabinet Room, police unions have stepped up
their criticism of the bills, and another instance in which
a white police officer shot a Black man has commanded the
country's attention.
A second conference committee has been ironing out a
consensus economic development bill since July 30 that
lawmakers hope can staunch some of the economic bleeding
brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a pretty safe bet
that the Legislature will approve a jobs bill worth a few
hundred million dollars in every even-numbered (read:
election) year. But this one, coming while the state deals
with a public health crisis that set off economic chaos,
carries new and significant weight.
Data from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce
Development this week showed Massachusetts is stuck in a
recession that is making worse the state's existing racial
and geographic inequality. UMass Amherst announced Thursday
that the "incredible financial cost" of not fully reopening
its campus has led to $169 million in budget losses. To deal
with the issue, UMass is placing 850 workers, including
dining and residence hall staff, on indefinite furlough
Sept. 13. About 450 more furloughs -- and some permanent
layoffs -- may still be on the horizon.
The MBTA is looking into the possibility of raising fares
and laying off employees as it stares down a projected
deficit of between $308 million and $577 million in fiscal
year 2022. Another legislative proposal to authorize about
$18 billion in borrowing for transportation projects, which
could give a boost to public works employment, is similarly
hung up in conference committee talks.
Employment is a huge part of it, but Beacon Hill lawmakers
still need to figure out what they're going to do about the
state's overall fiscal picture. Some of the potential
remedies -- like tax increases or cuts to public jobs --
could do more to complicate the jobs market.
A budget for fiscal year 2021, which began July 1, would
typically be in place by now. Instead, Massachusetts is
running on a $16.53 billion interim budget that will keep
state government operating through at least October, and
there's little in the way of a plan for addressing the rest
of the year.
Lawmakers and administration budget officials have said they
need to know what, if any, relief the federal government is
going to provide to states before they can craft a budget
for the rest of fiscal year 2021. Washington negotiations
around a coronavirus relief bill took place in fits and
starts beginning in late July, but hit an impasse this
month. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Politico
this week that he is not optimistic that a deal will be
reached by the end of September.
That could prolong headaches on Beacon Hill. If a relief
package with aid for state and local governments is agreed
to and passed in early October, officials in Massachusetts
would have just weeks to figure out what the federal
legislation means for the Bay State, draft a proposed
budget, debate the budget plan in both branches of the
Legislature, hammer out discrepancies in conference
committee, and get the governor's signature on it.
A more likely scenario, if Beacon Hill continues to wait for
signs from Washington, would be a third interim budget to
buy some more time. Who knows, but just like the NBA and NHL
have turned late summer into playoff season, perhaps the
House and Senate will turn autumn into their budget season.
While deadlines tend to be a little squishy for the
Legislature, they are a matter of law for Secretary of State
William Galvin. The state's elections overseer is in charge
of making sure this year's unprecedented mail-in-voting
effort goes smoothly, and the state's highest court ruled
this week that the Sept. 1 deadline for local elections
officers to receive mail-in primary election ballots must
stand.
Fourth Congressional District candidate Becky Grossman
sought a 10-day extension of the period allocated for
counting mail-in primary ballots. The Supreme Judicial Court
ruled that the deadline is constitutional and "also
reasonably designed to account for a number of
time-sensitive legal requirements that follow shortly after
the primary election."
In order to comply with a federal requirement to send
absentee ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45
days before any federal election, Galvin has to get the
finalized November ballots in the mail by Sept. 19. If
Grossman's extension had been granted, the secretary would
have had just more than a week to deal with potential calls
for recounts and to finalize the general election ballot.
The absolute deadline to vote in Tuesday's primary elections
is 8 p.m. Tuesday, but there may not be many news outlets
pushing back their print deadlines to wait for the final
results. Given how close some contests -- namely crowded the
Fourth Congressional District race and the U.S. Senate
primary between Ed Markey and Joseph Kennedy III -- are and
the expectation of a high volume of mail-in ballots, the
results of Tuesday's contests might not be clear for days.
State House
News Service
Friday, August 28, 2020
Advances - Week of Aug. 30, 2020
Voters who haven't already mailed in their ballots or taken
advantage of early voting options can head to the polls
Tuesday for the state's primary elections, which feature
several high profile races including the contest between
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, the
competition for the open Fourth Congressional District seat,
and numerous legislative races including battles for open
House seats. The state's first-ever mail-in and early voting
efforts, pieced together quickly in response to the
unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, added major new variables to
election administration and added a new dimension to vote
counting and the importance of election day itself.
Massachusetts has more than 4.5 million registered voters,
and more than 950,000 received mail-in ballots by Aug. 18.
All of the voting that has already occurred should lead to
smaller lines, if any, at many polling places on Tuesday.
Another new twist this year: the absence of election night
parties where candidates and supporters for decades have
gathered to watch the results roll in. With at least a
million mail-in ballots requested, questions have been
raised about the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service,
which has been thrust into a key role in ensuring the timely
delivery of filled-out ballots. For those voting in-person
on primary day, Secretary of State William Galvin has said
local officials "are going to great lengths" to make sure
polling locations observe social distancing guidelines,
institute precautions for workers like personal protective
equipment, plexiglass guards, and spacing out voting booths.
Alternatively, residents who requested and received a
mail-in ballot but have not sent it back to local election
officials can place the ballot in a drop box, typically
situated near town or city halls.
September Dawns
Six months into the pandemic, Massachusetts heads into
September mindful of one major change with widespread
implications - K-12 schools and colleges and universities
are reopening, and many plan to have students in classrooms
and on campuses. The reopenings mark a new chapter in both
the fight against the virus and the effort to establish
patterns in the new normal. On Beacon Hill, legislators
voted to give themselves more time to work on important
bills but have shown no evidence of progress and lawmakers
seem to have shifted their attention to politics and
campaigns. Tuesday's primaries mean the general election
races will soon be set, and with Democrats and Republicans
done with their virtual national conventions, the battle
between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden will
begin to intensify and occupy much of the energy in the
weeks ahead. The Legislature still has two months left on
its interim fiscal 2021 budget - coincidence or not, they
approved enough funds to keep the state running through the
general election cycle. Lawmakers failed during August to
reach agreements on major policing reform, climate change,
economic development, transportation and health care. While
there's urgency around all of those bills, especially with
the state having the nation's highest unemployment rate,
there's the potential for political peril if votes are
called on those matters before the Nov. 3 election and
lawmakers must not only find agreement on key details of
those bills but on when to roll them out - before the
election or during lame-duck sessions after the election.
Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020
SALES TAX HOLIDAY: Consumers get a holiday from
the state sales tax this weekend -- on most retail items
less than $2,500. This year's tax holiday weekend lands as
stores are seeking customers as they try to recover from
pandemic-related shutdowns. The Department of Revenue
estimated that last year's sales tax holiday resulted in
between $20 million and $35.7 million in lost tax revenue,
which instead accrued to consumers as savings on purchases.
DOR pegged the 2018 holiday at between $16.7 million and
$37.7 million in foregone revenue. A sales tax holiday was
long a traditional summertime gift from lawmakers to
consumers and businesses, but was permanently enshrined on
the calendar in 2018 under a 2018 law that also addressed
paid family and medical leave. (Saturday, Aug. 29 through
Sunday, Aug. 30)
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Coming soon to a courtroom near you – election-year chaos
By Howie Carr
I have seen the future of the 2020 elections, and it ain’t
pretty.
It was at a virtual hearing Monday before the Supreme
Judicial Court, with an also-ran candidate in the Fourth
Congressional District Democrat primary trying to get the
deadline for counting the ballots extended … for another 10
days beyond the primary election next Tuesday.
What could possibly go wrong?
Ten more days! The state sent out the mailings to every
registered voter in the state six weeks ago, telling them
how to apply for mail-in ballots.
But now the court has been told the voters didn’t have
enough time to a) mail back the application for a mail-in
primary ballot, and then b) send said ballot back to the
local election clerk before next Monday.
This being America in 2020, some victims had to be
identified. One of SJC justices asked plaintiff’s attorney
if any of the petitioners in the suit had not yet received
their mail-in ballots. No, said the lawyer, but he had
another card to play.
Come on down, unnamed 98-year-old woman in a nursing home.
The lawyer sadly said that this granny had only received her
ballot last Saturday and “God only knows how many similarly
situated people” there are like her.
God only knows indeed.
This may be the first time you’ve heard about a 98-year-old
woman in a nursing home being denied her inalienable right
to exercise her franchise, but I guarantee you it won’t be
the last.
This unfolding disaster is going to make the Florida hanging-chad
fiasco of 2000 look like a day at the beach.
Over the next few weeks, and probably long after election
day on Nov. 3, these kinds of election hearings will be held
across the country … preening public-defender type lawyers
pompously declaiming that everyone, yes, Your Honor,
everyone must be permitted to vote, even if they’re … dead …
or illegal … or felons … or have already voted two or three
times in other jurisdictions.
And judges, many of whom apparently haven’t set foot outside
their palatial mansions in six months, will be dithering,
making profound statements like “all sorts of things are
going on,” which Justice Kimberly S. Budd did actually say
Monday.
Some of the SJC justices even seemed shocked, shocked to
learn that sometimes mail entrusted to the Post Office isn’t
delivered in a timely fashion — “we didn’t know there were
going to be all these problems!” one of them said.
Tuesday, the secretary of state was back in front of the SJC,
this time in front of a single justice, answering a lawsuit
by some disabled group which is also claiming that some of
their plaintiffs, or failing that, an “affiant” or two, may
be grievously inconvenienced by the current election
schedule.
Okay, but what how about this other aggrieved group — people
in the military? There’s a federal law that ballots to
overseas voters must be mailed no later than 45 days before
the general election.
“Given the remote regions where many of our active duty
military personnel are saving,” the Disabled Veterans of
Massachusetts wrote about this lawsuit, “any delay in
sending ballots overseas could jeopardize the delivery of
those ballots.”
We understand most of the Democrats trying to game this
COVID-19 panic into chaos and a Joe Biden victory don’t care
about the military.
But how about the civilian expats — there’s 500 of those
Beautiful People just from Cambridge alone living abroad,
awaiting their ballots. And probably 490 of them are going
to be cast against Orange Man Bad.
What about their votes?
The Department of Justice weighed in on Monday about the
45-day legal requirement, reminding the SJC of their
responsibilities. Next stop: federal court.
This year 45 days before the general election would be Sept.
19. Which is a problem considering that at least one
candidate is asking that the vote counting be continued
until Sept. 11.
And what happens if, on Sept. 11, one or more races remain
so close that some of the trailing candidates demands a
recount?
And what if, after the recount, a losing candidate exercises
his or her option of appealing for a hearing before the
State Ballot Law Commission?
How does all this get done by the federal deadline for
printing and then mailing out the general-election ballots
by Sept. 19?
Answer: It doesn’t.
The SJC will probably try to split the difference — extend
the count a few days — and it’ll be a mess. And next
Tuesday’s election isn’t even the main event.
When you get right down to it, other than the Democrat U.S.
Senate primary, who really cares about any of the primary
races in Massachusetts next week?
Already, President Trump has incorporated into his standard
campaign stump speech the recent rampant voter fraud in
Paterson, N.J., not to mention the six weeks of chaos in
counting the Democrat primary vote in the 12th Congressional
District of New York. And now this.
Coming soon to a courtroom near you — election-year chaos.
Mr. President, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
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