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Post Office Box 1147
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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
48 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Is a "Change
Election" Conceivable in Mass.?
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
|
Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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After a
steady stream of way-above-projected collections
created an "unprecedented" surplus, the Baker
administration on Wednesday upgraded its official
estimate of how much money Massachusetts will bring
in from taxpayers this year for the third time.
The
administration announced it now expects to tally
$37.666 billion in tax collections over the course
of fiscal year 2022, about $1.7 billion or 4.78
percent more than the most recent estimate in place
and more than $7.5 billion or 25 percent beyond what
the executive branch and legislative leaders
anticipated when they first agreed to a projection
in January 2021.
Through
the first 10 months of FY22, state government had
hauled in $4.24 billion more than its most recent
projection, positioning Massachusetts to end another
spending cycle with a multibillion-dollar surplus.
"Even
after upgrading projections by $1.5 billion in
January, tax collections through April were $4.241
billion, or 14 percent more than the year-to-date
benchmarks," Administration and Finance Secretary
Michael Heffernan said Wednesday. "The commonwealth
is on a path to two successive years of double-digit
increases in tax collections, which is unprecedented
in recent times." ...
Officials
agreed in the state budget signed in July 2021 to
push the "consensus revenue estimate" for FY22 up by
$4.23 billion to $34.35 billion, then upgraded the
projection again in January by another $1.598
billion to $35.948 billion.
That
figure remained in place until Wednesday's change,
which pushed the latest projection for FY22 tax
collections higher than the FY23 consensus revenue
estimate of $36.915 billion announced in January.
That figure is being used as the foundation of the
House and Senate budgets for next fiscal year....
Taxpayers
already produced a surplus of roughly $5 billion
last year ...
State
government also bulked up its "rainy day" savings
account, and the fund could surpass $6 billion --
roughly 12 percent of the House's $49.7 billion
fiscal 2023 budget -- this year....
The influx
of cash has prompted debate on Beacon Hill over
whether to boost spending, cut taxes or sock away
money into reserves, all while the Legislature sits
on more than $2 billion in unspent federal ARPA
money.
Gov.
Charlie Baker has been pressing lawmakers to lean
toward the first two of those options, arguing
unsuccessfully for months in favor of a $700 million
tax relief package and on Wednesday rolling out a
new $1.7 billion spending bill funded by this year's
surplus.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Tax Collection Deluge Leads to
Third Markup of Fiscal 2022 Revenue
State Now Expects 25 Percent More Tax $$$ Than
Initially Thought
Port
improvements, housing development, and water and
sewage infrastructure headline the investment areas
in a $1.7 billion supplemental budget bill Gov.
Charlie Baker outlined Wednesday as the Republican
eyes more spending in his final months in office.
Baker will
make another push to dip into the state's booming
tax surplus as revenues continue to smash
expectations, calling for additional immediate
investment in several areas he already targeted in
longer-term borrowing bills geared toward economic
development and infrastructure, particularly
offshore wind....
The
funding for port development in Baker's latest
midyear spending bill would complement billions of
dollars earmarked for clean energy and environmental
uses in the governor's $3.5 billion economic
development bill and his $9.7 billion infrastructure
bill, both of which are being reviewed by
legislative committees.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Baker’s Latest $1.7 Bil Plan
Reflects Spend-Now Approach
Guv Sees Inflation, Supply, Labor Issues Worsening
The
Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday launches debate on
its $49.7 billion fiscal 2023 budget and senators
are eager to make major changes to the bill authored
by Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues.
According
to a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis,
the
1,178 budget amendments filed this year have a
total fiscal impact of $3.5 billion, with 60 percent
of amendments earmarking funds for local projects
and totaling $280 million. If history is a judge,
the vast majority of those spending proposals will
fail, as senators usually agree to tens of millions
of added spending.
Senate
Democrats, who hold 37 of the branch's 40 seats, are
also determined to load the spending bill (S 4) with
policy proposals, which are reflected in 260
amendments. Most of those will also likely fizzle
out.
Budget
bills in both branches typically attract scores of
amendments from lawmakers who are aware that budgets
make it to the governor's desk, unlike many of their
standalone proposals that are dying while
technically "under review" in various committees....
Thirty-eight amendments propose tax law changes, but
some are duplicative, MTF said, leaving 19 separate
tax changes on the table.
State
House News Service
Friday, May 20, 2022
Analysis: Senate
Amendments Would Add $3.5 Billion To Budget
If you
were wondering when the Legislature would lurch into
the last leg of its two-year lawmaking session, the
rapidly increasing number of bills in play is a
pretty good indication that busy season has already
arrived.
It might
seem counterintuitive that advancing legislation
lengthens rather than shortens the to-do list atop
Beacon Hill, but thousands of bills never see the
light of day beyond a perfunctory committee hearing.
Once something hits the floor for a vote, it becomes
tangible, and so grows the pressure to close it out.
Now in the
mix with 10 weeks remaining before the traditional
end of formal business is a $5 billion bond bill
that would fund investments in government
infrastructure, primarily decades-old state
buildings....
The
Legislature made quick work of one lingering item --
which also appears likely to draw a veto -- this
week when a conference committee (did they even
meet?) took only a few hours to produce a final bill
that would allow undocumented immigrants to apply
for driver's licenses.
And yet
even in a week that saw one conference committee
wrap up, the total number of bills in those
closed-doors negotiations actually increased
compared to last week, with another new panel tapped
to iron out House-Senate differences when it comes
to legalizing sports wagering.
How much
success House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate
President Karen Spilka can claim this session will
hinge in large part on what their deputies can steer
through the conference committee bottleneck....
[Gov.
Charlie Baker's] latest supplemental budget calls
for investments in water and sewer infrastructure,
higher education campuses, building out ports to
support the offshore wind industry and more, and it
also presses once again on Democrats to do something
here and now with an unprecedented flood of taxpayer
cash.
Baker
wants to spend quickly, worried about a potential
economic downturn on the horizon, particularly amid
surging inflation. But in the meantime, tax revenues
continue to, as Baker put it, "soar wildly past any
projections anybody had at the start of the year."
The
astonishing April haul prompted the administration
on Wednesday to upgrade its fiscal 2022 outlook for
the third time, pushing it up to a $37.666 billion
projection that stands a full $7.5 billion above the
original estimate crafted less than a year into the
COVID-19 pandemic. Beacon Hill is already sitting
atop more than $2 billion in unspent federal
emergency aid and is well on its way to ending a
second successive year with a stunning tax surplus.
There
won't be any complaints among sitting lawmakers
seeking another term, who can avoid being asked on
the campaign trail to offer austere visions to right
the ship, even if they continue to keep popular tax
relief proposals on ice.
State
House News Service
Friday, May 20, 2022
Weekly Roundup - 'Tis the Busy
Season
Direct
from the very blue state of Massachusetts comes
another warning to Democrats about voter discontent.
According
to Secretary of State William F. Galvin, individual
Republican candidates running for statewide office
have collected thousands more signatures than their
Democratic opponents as part of the process required
to get on the ballot. It’s a signal Galvin likens to
wastewater samples that show a rise in COVID-19.
“There’s a rising tide of potential infection out
there,” he told me. “They [Massachusetts voters] are
open to these people [Republicans].”
Galvin, a
Democrat who is running for what would be a historic
eighth term as secretary of state, said he saw the
enthusiasm gap in real time as he worked to collect
the 5,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot.
People lined up to sign for Republican candidates
and walked away from Democrats....
These
numbers can be easily dismissed as a meaningless
show of organizational strength — except that
Massachusetts Republicans have no organizational
strength. They represent only 10 to 11 percent of
all registered voters, and that percentage could
sink even lower as the Trumpian wing asserts control
over what’s left of the party apparatus. Democrats,
who are highly organized, represent about 30
percent. The rest are unenrolled voters.
To Galvin,
the signature tallies are a warning to Democrats
everywhere about the sour mood of the electorate.
“Two years ago, Donald Trump was a unifying factor,”
he said. Today, he said, dissatisfaction with
President Biden unites voters in a way that spells
danger for Democrats. According to a recent poll,
just 46 percent of Massachusetts voters say they
approve of the job Biden is doing as president. For
Democrats, that’s disturbing, given that Biden beat
Trump by just over 33 percentage points in
Massachusetts....
Social
issues aside, there seems to be a mood out there,
even in Massachusetts. Galvin said he feels it, and
“like an old safecracker, my fingers start to
tingle.” The signature count and the tingling tell
him the mood isn’t good for Democrats.
The
Boston Globe
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Numbers don’t lie: Even in
Mass., GOP candidates are outpacing Democrats
By Joan Vennochi
Republican
delegates on Saturday qualified both of their
candidates for Massachusetts governor - Geoff Diehl
and Chris Doughty - for the September primary
ballot, and gave Diehl the party's endorsement in
the race.
Delegates
also gave enough support to both Leah Cole Allen and
Kate Campanale, the two GOP lieutenant governor
candidates, to ensure them ballot access.
Diehl and
Allen, both former state representatives, are
running as a ticket, and were favored by party
insiders at the convention. While he has lost races
for state Senate and U.S. Senate, Diehl described
himself to delegates as the "worst nightmare" for
Democrats this election cycle.
"Progressives fear us because we have the courage to
stand by our convictions and to fight against their
great reset of our country," said Diehl. "I have the
courage to look them in the eye and say 'no.'
Massachusetts should not be the testing ground for
outrageous liberal experiments." ...
Capping a
long day of speeches, delegates gave Diehl 849
votes, and Doughty 345.
Allen
secured 864 votes, or 70 percent of those voting,
and Campanale won 370 votes - 30 percent.
Three
other Republicans running statewide this year were
nominated by acclamation since they faced no
opposition.
State
House News Service
Saturday, May 21, 2022
GOP Delegates Qualify Guv
Hopefuls Diehl, Doughty For Ballot
Drifting
from their recent moderate roots, Massachusetts
Republicans on Saturday opened a new chapter in
their party's history, hosting a decidedly pro-Trump
nominating convention that keyed off of anger about
government mandates, pledges to oppose and fight the
"radical left," and calls for a state government
flush with cash to deliver relief from high gas
prices and soaring inflation.
"This is a
new Republican Party, a party that is going to stand
and fight," party chair Jim Lyons said in remarks at
the MassMutual Center, after a video presentation
featuring scenes of destructive urban protests.
"This is a time to finally take over and put the
radical agenda to sleep once and for all." ...
Lyons lost
his old seat in the Massachusetts House to a
Democrat and Republicans have been slowly bleeding
more seats recently under his watch. They hold 31
seats in the 200-seat Legislature and their most
popular official, Gov. Charlie Baker, is at odds
with his party and not seeking reelection. Lt. Gov.
Karyn Polito also opted against running for
governor, and the names of Baker and Polito didn't
come up in convention remarks.
A Boston
Globe-Suffolk University poll this month found only
just over 50 percent of those polled believe
Massachusetts is heading in the right direction,
opening an opportunity for candidates to reach
frustrated voters, but nearly 72 percent of
respondents in the same poll were also optimistic
about their own futures....
Shaunna
O'Connell said there is hope. She said she was an
unknown "mom with a cause" when she ran for state
rep as a Republican and beat former Rep. Jim Fagan,
and she later prevailed against strong opposition
from Democrats to win her current office, mayor of
Taunton.
"It won't
be easy," she said. "It never is for a Republican in
Massachusetts, but it is possible."
Billerica
Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo said that during his
12 years on Beacon Hill "I found myself surrounded
by those who didn't want to ruffle any feathers." He
compromised to get things done for his community, he
said, but he called government-ordered pandemic
shutdowns and lockdowns a "reawakening."
"We were
even told that it was dangerous to be outside on a
golf course so therefore golf courses were closed
down," Lombardo said.
Lombardo
continued, "We need more Republicans on Beacon Hill
to stand beside me and fight. We are going to look
back at this time in history as a time when we had
to stand up and fight for our basic rights." ...
"If I
offend anybody today, I don't care," said former
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas
Homan, who said Trump did more than his predecessors
to secure the southern border, and alleged that
border areas are currently open "on purpose."
Homan
capped his speech by leading the crowd in a "Trump"
cheer and then whipping out his cellphone to quickly
record it.
State
House News Service
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Trump Spirit, Fighting Theme
Runs Through GOP Convention
Chairman: "This Is A New Republican Party
The U.S.
Census Bureau said last year that it had counted
7,029,917 people living in Massachusetts in 2020 but
in a report issued Thursday, the bureau said it had
actually overcounted Bay Staters by more than 2
percent.
Massachusetts was one of eight states with
statistically significant population overcounts,
according to the bureau's Post-Enumeration Survey
Estimation Report. That report now lists the
Massachusetts "Census count for Post-Enumeration
Survey universe" at 6,784,000 people and said the
Census had overcounted people living in
Massachusetts by 2.24 percent....
In the
lead-up to the decennial Census, Secretary of State
William Galvin and others repeatedly raised red
flags about the threat of an undercount in the 2020
Census, which would have impacted federal aid
flowing to Massachusetts for the next decade.
"An
undercount risks all aspects of our lives: adequate
funding for affordable housing, roads, hospitals and
schools, as well as adequate representation," the
MassCounts coalition said in February 2020. "But
every year, communities are under-counted,
under-funded, and underrepresented."
State
House News Service
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Census: Mass. Population Was
Significantly Overcounted
The 2020
census made significant miscounts, with population
numbers in six states being undercounted while eight
states saw an overcount in population, based on data
from a recently published U.S. Census Bureau report.
Interestingly, five of the six states where the
population was undercounted were red
states—Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi,
and Texas. The only blue state was Illinois.
Of the
eight states where the population was overcounted,
six were blue states, with the exceptions being Utah
and the battleground state of Ohio....
States
that suffered from undercounting lost potential
congressional seats. In Florida, the undercount
translates into 750,600 missed citizens. According
to an analysis by Election Data Services, Florida
only needed 171,561 more people to get another seat.
Similarly
in Texas, where 189,645 more citizens in the census
would have helped the state gain a seat,
undercounting led to 560,000 missing residents.
In
Minnesota, the overcount resulted in around 219,000
additional residents. If the state had 26 fewer
people, it would have never won the 435th and final
congressional seat in the House.
In Rhode
Island, the 5 percent overcount resulted in 55,000
additional residents. If the state had 19,127 fewer
people, one seat would have been lost....
As a
result, Rhode Island will have more representation
in Congress for a decade. The state’s members of
Congress are Democrats.
Meanwhile,
Rhode Island Republican Party National Committeeman
Steve Frias slammed the “aggressive census counting
tactics,” warning that the count will undermine
people’s confidence in the administration.
“Democracy
only works if people trust the system,” Frias said
in a statement to AP. “Double counting 55,000 people
in order to hold on to a congressional seat destroys
that trust.”
The Epoch
Times
Saturday, May 21, 2022
2020 Census: Significant
Miscounts in 14 States
Mostly Red States Lost Congressional Seats; Mostly
Blue States Gained Congressional Seats |
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary |
|
On Wednesday the
State House News Service reported ("Tax
Collection Deluge Leads to Third Markup of Fiscal 2022 Revenue—State
Now Expects 25 Percent More Tax $$$ Than Initially Thought"):
After a steady stream of
way-above-projected collections created an
"unprecedented" surplus, the Baker
administration on Wednesday upgraded its
official estimate of how much money
Massachusetts will bring in from taxpayers this
year for the third time.
The administration
announced it now expects to tally $37.666
billion in tax collections over the course of
fiscal year 2022, about $1.7 billion or 4.78
percent more than the most recent estimate in
place and more than $7.5 billion or 25 percent
beyond what the executive branch and legislative
leaders anticipated when they first agreed to a
projection in January 2021.
Through the first 10 months
of FY22, state government had hauled in $4.24
billion more than its most recent projection,
positioning Massachusetts to end another
spending cycle with a multibillion-dollar
surplus....
Taxpayers already produced
a surplus of roughly $5 billion last year ...
State government also
bulked up its "rainy day" savings account, and
the fund could surpass $6 billion -- roughly 12
percent of the House's $49.7 billion fiscal 2023
budget -- this year....
The influx of cash has
prompted debate on Beacon Hill over whether to
boost spending, cut taxes or sock away money
into reserves, all while the Legislature sits on
more than $2 billion in unspent federal ARPA
money.
Gov. Charlie Baker has been
pressing lawmakers to lean toward the first two
of those options, arguing unsuccessfully for
months in favor of a $700 million tax relief
package and on Wednesday rolling out a new $1.7
billion spending bill funded by this year's
surplus.
The state is wallowing in
a historic, massive revenue surplus —
more rightly called, obviously, over-taxation
— that just keeps pouring in and piling up. And still
there is no tax relief in sight. If not now
— when?
Amendments filed for the Senate's proposed budget,
to begin being debated on Tuesday, were due by the end of last week.
On Friday, the State House News Service reported ("Analysis:
Senate Amendments Would Add $3.5 Billion To Budget"):
The Massachusetts Senate on
Tuesday launches debate on its $49.7 billion
fiscal 2023 budget and senators are eager to
make major changes to the bill authored by
Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues.
According to a
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis, the
1,178 budget amendments filed this year have
a total fiscal impact of $3.5 billion, with 60
percent of amendments earmarking funds for local
projects and totaling $280 million. If history
is a judge, the vast majority of those spending
proposals will fail, as senators usually agree
to tens of millions of added spending.
Senate Democrats, who hold
37 of the branch's 40 seats, are also determined
to load the spending bill (S 4) with policy
proposals, which are reflected in 260
amendments. Most of those will also likely
fizzle out.
Budget bills in both
branches typically attract scores of amendments
from lawmakers who are aware that budgets make
it to the governor's desk, unlike many of their
standalone proposals that are dying while
technically "under review" in various
committees....
Thirty-eight amendments
propose tax law changes, but some are
duplicative, MTF said, leaving 19 separate tax
changes on the table.
Expecting
this could well be where at least two of those four
stealth attacks on Proposition 2½
could be buried, I tediously waded through the
amendments, all 1,178 of them one by one. I
didn't find them there, but don't leave it all on
me. You might look them over for yourself to
make sure I didn't miss one or more of them. I
know I was getting blurry-eyed by the time I was
about halfway through them, reached numbers in the
six hundreds!
The 1,178 Senate budget
amendments can be found at:
https://malegislature.gov/Budget/FY2023/SenateDebate
and/or
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S4/Amendments/Senate
The two Senate
bills/assaults I expected might be slipped into the Senate's budget
follow, but as a budget amendment could be titled something
entirely different:
S.1804 - An Act authorizing a local affordable housing
surcharge, sponsored by Sen. Brownsberger
S.1899 - An Act relative to regional transportation ballot
initiatives, sponsored by Sen. Lesser
Let me know if you find
anything I missed!
Liberal Boston Globe
longtime columnist
Joan Vennochi lifted my spirits with her column on
Wednesday ("Numbers don’t lie: Even in Mass.,
GOP candidates are outpacing Democrats"). Here's a few
excerpts from it:
Direct from the
very blue state of Massachusetts comes another warning to
Democrats about voter discontent.
According to Secretary of State William F. Galvin, individual
Republican candidates running for statewide office have
collected thousands more signatures than their Democratic
opponents as part of the process required to get on the ballot.
It’s a signal Galvin likens to wastewater samples that show a
rise in COVID-19. “There’s a rising tide of potential infection
out there,” he told me. “They [Massachusetts voters] are open to
these people [Republicans].”
Galvin, a Democrat who is running for what would be a historic
eighth term as secretary of state, said he saw the enthusiasm
gap in real time as he worked to collect the 5,000 signatures
needed to get on the ballot. People lined up to sign for
Republican candidates and walked away from Democrats....
These numbers can be easily dismissed as a meaningless show of
organizational strength — except that Massachusetts Republicans
have no organizational strength. They represent only 10 to 11
percent of all registered voters, and that percentage could sink
even lower as the Trumpian wing asserts control over what’s left
of the party apparatus. Democrats, who are highly organized,
represent about 30 percent. The rest are unenrolled voters.
To Galvin, the signature tallies are a warning to Democrats
everywhere about the sour mood of the electorate. “Two years
ago, Donald Trump was a unifying factor,” he said. Today, he
said, dissatisfaction with President Biden unites voters in a
way that spells danger for Democrats. According to a recent
poll, just 46 percent of Massachusetts voters say they approve
of the job Biden is doing as president. For Democrats, that’s
disturbing, given that Biden beat Trump by just over 33
percentage points in Massachusetts....
Social issues aside, there seems to be a mood out there, even in
Massachusetts. Galvin said he feels it, and “like an old
safecracker, my fingers start to tingle.” The signature count
and the tingling tell him the mood isn’t good for Democrats.
Though this is the
entrenched Democratic Republic of Woke Massachusetts they're talking
about, it's nice to dream of what could be. Having even a
spark of hope to get you through the day is better than utter
despondency.
The Massachusetts GOP held
its convention in Springfield this weekend and nominated its slate
of candidates. Wouldn't it be something, historic even, if
Galvin's and Vennochi's fears were well-founded. It's said
that timing is everything, and maybe it just might be the right time
for Republicans in Massachusetts to gain some ground.
I keep reminding myself
that it is still after all, the entrenched Democratic
Republic of Woke Massachusetts we're talking about, that even
"moderate" Republicans are becoming an endangered species only seen
on milk cartons — but when is the last
time the MassGOP has tried going full-on conservative and offering
voters an alternative to socialism, a real choice? Might it
improve their diminishing numbers? At this point, what do they
have to lose?
The State House News Service reported from the state
GOP convention in Springfield yesterday (Trump
Spirit, Fighting Theme Runs Through GOP Convention
—Chairman: "This Is A New Republican
Party"):
Drifting from their recent
moderate roots, Massachusetts Republicans on
Saturday opened a new chapter in their party's
history, hosting a decidedly pro-Trump
nominating convention that keyed off of anger
about government mandates, pledges to oppose and
fight the "radical left," and calls for a state
government flush with cash to deliver relief
from high gas prices and soaring inflation.
"This is a new Republican
Party, a party that is going to stand and
fight," party chair Jim Lyons said in remarks at
the MassMutual Center, after a video
presentation featuring scenes of destructive
urban protests. "This is a time to finally take
over and put the radical agenda to sleep once
and for all." ...
A Boston Globe-Suffolk
University poll this month found only just over
50 percent of those polled believe Massachusetts
is heading in the right direction, opening an
opportunity for candidates to reach frustrated
voters, but nearly 72 percent of respondents in
the same poll were also optimistic about their
own futures....
Billerica Republican Rep.
Marc Lombardo said that during his 12 years on
Beacon Hill "I found myself surrounded by those
who didn't want to ruffle any feathers." He
compromised to get things done for his
community, he said, but he called
government-ordered pandemic shutdowns and
lockdowns a "reawakening."
"We were even told that it
was dangerous to be outside on a golf course so
therefore golf courses were closed down,"
Lombardo said.
Lombardo continued, "We
need more Republicans on Beacon Hill to stand
beside me and fight. We are going to look back
at this time in history as a time when we had to
stand up and fight for our basic rights."
With expectations of a Red
Wave sweeping the nation, handily turning Congress over to
Republican control come the November elections, with Democrats
dreading the day of reckoning ahead, with punishing Bidenflation
impoverishing everyone and the Biden administration's utter
incompetence widely recognized and dragging down "The Big Guy's"
poll numbers in every category, maybe it'll tap into the
Massachusetts electorate. Timing is everything. Maybe
the timing is right to upturn the political situation even in the
Bay State — at least break the status
quo one-party-rule inertia.
Again I ask: If not
now — when?
On Thursday the
State House News Service reported ("Census:
Mass. Population Was Significantly Overcounted"):
The U.S. Census Bureau said
last year that it had counted 7,029,917 people
living in Massachusetts in 2020 but in a report
issued Thursday, the bureau said it had actually
overcounted Bay Staters by more than 2 percent.
Massachusetts was one of
eight states with statistically significant
population overcounts, according to the bureau's
Post-Enumeration Survey Estimation Report. That
report now lists the Massachusetts "Census count
for Post-Enumeration Survey universe" at
6,784,000 people and said the Census had
overcounted people living in Massachusetts by
2.24 percent....
In the lead-up to the
decennial Census, Secretary of State William
Galvin and others repeatedly raised red flags
about the threat of an undercount in the 2020
Census, which would have impacted federal aid
flowing to Massachusetts for the next decade.
"An undercount risks all
aspects of our lives: adequate funding for
affordable housing, roads, hospitals and
schools, as well as adequate representation,"
the MassCounts coalition said in February 2020.
"But every year, communities are under-counted,
under-funded, and underrepresented."
Massachusetts residents
(not citizens) were overcounted by 2.24 percent, by 245,917
non-existent residents. Funny how that happened. But
Massachusetts was not alone — or even
Number One this time.
On the national level,
The Epoch Times reported yesterday ("2020
Census: Significant Miscounts in 14 States—Mostly
Red States Lost Congressional Seats; Mostly Blue States Gained
Congressional Seats"):
The 2020 census made
significant miscounts, with population numbers
in six states being undercounted while eight
states saw an overcount in population, based on
data from a recently published U.S. Census
Bureau report.
Interestingly, five of the
six states where the population was undercounted
were red states—Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida,
Mississippi, and Texas. The only blue state was
Illinois.
Of the eight states where
the population was overcounted, six were blue
states, with the exceptions being Utah and the
battleground state of Ohio....
States that suffered from
undercounting lost potential congressional
seats. In Florida, the undercount translates
into 750,600 missed citizens. According to an
analysis by Election Data Services, Florida only
needed 171,561 more people to get another seat.
Similarly in Texas, where
189,645 more citizens in the census would have
helped the state gain a seat, undercounting led
to 560,000 missing residents.
In Minnesota, the overcount
resulted in around 219,000 additional residents.
If the state had 26 fewer people, it would have
never won the 435th and final congressional seat
in the House.
In Rhode Island, the 5
percent overcount resulted in 55,000 additional
residents. If the state had 19,127 fewer people,
one seat would have been lost....
As a result, Rhode Island
will have more representation in Congress for a
decade. The state’s members of Congress are
Democrats.
Funny how that
happened too — with such "mistakes"
almost exclusively benefitting Democrat-controlled states.
"Nothing to see here
folks, just keep moving along."
|
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|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
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State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Tax Collection Deluge Leads to Third Markup of Fiscal 2022
Revenue
State Now Expects 25 Percent More Tax $$$ Than Initially
Thought
By Chris Lisinski
After a steady stream of way-above-projected collections
created an "unprecedented" surplus, the Baker administration
on Wednesday upgraded its official estimate of how much
money Massachusetts will bring in from taxpayers this year
for the third time.
The administration announced it now expects to tally $37.666
billion in tax collections over the course of fiscal year
2022, about $1.7 billion or 4.78 percent more than the most
recent estimate in place and more than $7.5 billion or 25
percent beyond what the executive branch and legislative
leaders anticipated when they first agreed to a projection
in January 2021.
Through the first 10 months of FY22, state government had
hauled in $4.24 billion more than its most recent
projection, positioning Massachusetts to end another
spending cycle with a multibillion-dollar surplus.
"Even after upgrading projections by $1.5 billion in
January, tax collections through April were $4.241 billion,
or 14 percent more than the year-to-date benchmarks,"
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan said
Wednesday. "The commonwealth is on a path to two successive
years of double-digit increases in tax collections, which is
unprecedented in recent times."
In January 2021 -- less than a year into the COVID-19
pandemic, at a time when the state's economy was still
feeling significant strain -- Heffernan, House Ways and
Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and Senate Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Michael Rodrigues said they expected
Massachusetts to collect $30.12 billion in tax revenue in
FY22.
Officials agreed in the state budget signed in July 2021 to
push the "consensus revenue estimate" for FY22 up by $4.23
billion to $34.35 billion, then upgraded the projection
again in January by another $1.598 billion to $35.948
billion.
That figure remained in place until Wednesday's change,
which pushed the latest projection for FY22 tax collections
higher than the FY23 consensus revenue estimate of $36.915
billion announced in January. That figure is being used as
the foundation of the House and Senate budgets for next
fiscal year.
Taxpayers already produced a surplus of roughly $5 billion
last year, and Beacon Hill bundled much of that money
together with American Rescue Plan Act dollars that went
toward unemployment insurance relief for businesses, premium
pay for front-line workers, and a slew of other investments
across the state.
State government also bulked up its "rainy day" savings
account, and the fund could surpass $6 billion -- roughly 12
percent of the House's $49.7 billion fiscal 2023 budget --
this year.
Another surplus now looms on the horizon and will be
finalized only a few months before voters head to the polls
with not only the governor's office and all 200 House and
Senate seats on the ballot, but also a likely ballot
question seeking to increase household income taxes on the
state's wealthiest residents.
The influx of cash has prompted debate on Beacon Hill over
whether to boost spending, cut taxes or sock away money into
reserves, all while the Legislature sits on more than $2
billion in unspent federal ARPA money.
Gov. Charlie Baker has been pressing lawmakers to lean
toward the first two of those options, arguing
unsuccessfully for months in favor of a $700 million tax
relief package and on Wednesday rolling out a new $1.7
billion spending bill funded by this year's surplus.
Baker on Wednesday pushed for quick action to put the
dollars to work before the economic outlook tilts downward.
"We're making these investments now because we are deeply
concerned about what is going to happen over the course of
the next several years with (the) supply chain and
especially with the cost of pretty much everything," Baker
said. "Month over month, we keep seeing our tax revenues
soar wildly past any projections anybody had at the start of
the year."
State House News
Service
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Baker’s Latest $1.7 Bil Plan Reflects Spend-Now Approach
Guv Sees Inflation, Supply, Labor Issues Worsening
By Chris Lisinski
Port improvements, housing development, and water and sewage
infrastructure headline the investment areas in a $1.7
billion supplemental budget bill Gov. Charlie Baker outlined
Wednesday as the Republican eyes more spending in his final
months in office.
Baker will make another push to dip into the state's booming
tax surplus as revenues continue to smash expectations,
calling for additional immediate investment in several areas
he already targeted in longer-term borrowing bills geared
toward economic development and infrastructure, particularly
offshore wind.
The midyear spending bill would steer $100 million toward
building out ports in Salem, New Bedford and Somerset with
an eye on the wind farms soon to come online off the coast
of southeastern Massachusetts and other installations
envisioned along the East Coast.
Vineyard Wind I, on track to become the first utility-scale
offshore wind farm in the country, should come online in
waters south of Martha's Vineyard by the end of 2023, and
several other projects are in development off the Bay
State's coasts.
But Baker warned Wednesday that Massachusetts runs the risk
of missing out on the full potential of the offshore wind
industry unless the Legislature steers more funding toward
the infrastructure it will require.
"We have a strong clean energy future here, but we can be
doing so much more faster if we can continue to support and
invest in innovation, creativity, imagination and all the
things that make Massachusetts special," Baker, flanked by
local leaders, deputies and industry representatives, said
at an event at the Salem Wharf. "We have the resources to
act. The supply chain issues are going to be there, the
inflation issues are going to be there. What we need to do
is create certainty for all the players who want to make
these investments, put these dollars to work, and make
Massachusetts at the front of the line instead of somewhere
near the back of the line."
Baker's office summarized the bill in a press release but
did not immediately provide a copy of the legislative text
or bill number.
A Baker aide on Wednesday evening then made the bill text
available.
All three of the communities that would receive port
investments under Baker's new spending bill already have
ties to the offshore wind industry.
Vineyard Wind is based in New Bedford, and the company has
also been working to transform Salem Harbor into what it has
described as "the state's second major offshore wind port."
Somerset's Brayton Point is also poised to become home to
the state's first offshore wind manufacturing facility,
where workers will build subsea transmission cables.
"Investment in port infrastructure is critically important
to not just the success of the offshore wind industry but
also to reaching our carbon pollution reduction targets and
advancing the goals of vital port communities," Vineyard
Offshore Chief Development Officer Rachel Pachter said in a
statement Wednesday.
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO Jennifer Daloisio said
her office identified Salem as a "top candidate for serving
the offshore wind industry," noting the North Shore city's
proximity to the Gulf of Maine -- another area eyed for wind
farms -- and the depth of its water.
"For this offshore wind industry to grow, so too does our
infrastructure," Daloisio said. "Offshore wind is a maritime
industry and the successful establishment of this sector
will require the build-out and long-term operations of more
highly specialized port facilities."
Both elected officials and environmental advocates tout
offshore wind as a linchpin in efforts to convert the
state's electrical grid to clean sources and achieve
net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The funding for port development in Baker's latest midyear
spending bill would complement billions of dollars earmarked
for clean energy and environmental uses in the governor's
$3.5 billion economic development bill and his $9.7 billion
infrastructure bill, both of which are being reviewed by
legislative committees.
Baker unveiled his latest bill alongside an announcement
that his administration would bump up its projected fiscal
year 2022 state tax revenue haul to $37.666 billion, an
increase of about $1.7 billion over the current estimate,
after monthly collections have repeatedly blown past
expectations.
"Because of these rising costs associated with inflation and
supply chain issues and some labor issues in there as well,
we anticipate that these conditions will only get worse over
time, and that's why this unprecedented surplus needs to be
put to work now, so that we can get in and get going and get
started at a price point that's consistent with what most
people believe these projects should cost," Baker said. "The
longer we wait to fund these projects, the longer we wait to
break ground, the longer we wait to get going, the higher
the costs of these projects will be and the farther back in
line we'll be."
His latest midyear spending bill also calls for steering
$310 million toward housing development, including $200
million for workforce housing, $100 million to redevelop
public housing in Boston, Cambridge, Salem and Worcester,
and $10 million to increase permanent supportive housing for
those experiencing chronic homelessness.
Other spending proposals include $235 million on what
Baker's office described broadly as "transportation
projects," $200 million for Cape Cod water and sewer
initiatives, $150 million to invest in higher education
campus infrastructure, $80 million to give small businesses
more options to purchase commercial real estate, $55 million
for child care initiatives, and $50 million to offer
financial assistance to developers from disadvantaged
backgrounds looking to pursue large housing construction.
Baker used the bill as a vehicle to propose enshrining early
college and innovation pathways as an enrollment category in
the "foundation budget" used by public K-12 school districts
and to call for allowing districts to reserve some Chapter
70 state aid for use in future years while they spend down
one-time federal funds.
State House News
Service
Friday, May 20, 2022
Analysis: Senate Amendments Would Add $3.5 Billion To Budget
By Michael P. Norton
The Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday launches debate on its
$49.7 billion fiscal 2023 budget and senators are eager to
make major changes to the bill authored by Senate budget
chief Michael Rodrigues.
According to a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis,
the
1,178 budget amendments filed this year have a total
fiscal impact of $3.5 billion, with 60 percent of amendments
earmarking funds for local projects and totaling $280
million. If history is a judge, the vast majority of those
spending proposals will fail, as senators usually agree to
tens of millions of added spending.
Senate Democrats, who hold 37 of the branch's 40 seats, are
also determined to load the spending bill (S 4) with policy
proposals, which are reflected in 260 amendments. Most of
those will also likely fizzle out.
Budget bills in both branches typically attract scores of
amendments from lawmakers who are aware that budgets make it
to the governor's desk, unlike many of their standalone
proposals that are dying while technically "under review" in
various committees.
There are 261 budget amendments that propose new outside
sections to the budget, MTF said. Such budget riders, which
often have nothing to do with spending, have come in and out
of favor over the years, depending on which Democrats are
running the branches. At times, Democrats have trumpeted
efforts to keep policy riders out of spending bills as a
good government reform.
Thirty-eight amendments propose tax law changes, but some
are duplicative, MTF said, leaving 19 separate tax changes
on the table.
Budget deliberations start on Tuesday and senators usually
motor through amendments to finish well before Memorial Day
weekend.
Most amendments are dispensed with without public debate.
Senators often withdraw proposals after learning through
private talks that their ideas lack support. To speed things
along, senators also adopt and reject large bundles of
amendments, often by logging them electronically into "yes"
and "no" groupings and voice-voting them up or down without
any public explanation.
State House News
Service
Friday, May 20, 2022
Weekly Roundup - 'Tis the Busy Season
By Chris Lisinski
If you were wondering when the Legislature would lurch into
the last leg of its two-year lawmaking session, the rapidly
increasing number of bills in play is a pretty good
indication that busy season has already arrived.
It might seem counterintuitive that advancing legislation
lengthens rather than shortens the to-do list atop Beacon
Hill, but thousands of bills never see the light of day
beyond a perfunctory committee hearing. Once something hits
the floor for a vote, it becomes tangible, and so grows the
pressure to close it out.
Now in the mix with 10 weeks remaining before the
traditional end of formal business is a $5 billion bond bill
that would fund investments in government infrastructure,
primarily decades-old state buildings.
While the original legislation came from Gov. Charlie Baker,
he may not be so keen on a change the House made that would
order a five-year pause of any construction or expansion of
correctional facilities. The moratorium would upend the
administration's still-unfolding exploration of a new
women's prison in Norfolk, and if Baker decides he wants to
keep that option open by vetoing the language, lawmakers
would need to leave themselves enough time for an override,
an option they haven't always protected despite their
supermajorities.
"The House passed the prison moratorium today! This stops
the proposed new women's prison," Rep. Christine Barber, a
Somerville Democrat, tweeted on Thursday. "We need to invest
in mental health supports, substance use treatment &
housing, not jails."
Of course, the House would need to get the Senate to go
along and, you know, pass a moratorium law before any prison
proposals will face an actual legal obstacle.
The Legislature made quick work of one lingering item --
which also appears likely to draw a veto -- this week when a
conference committee (did they even meet?) took only a few
hours to produce a final bill that would allow undocumented
immigrants to apply for driver's licenses.
And yet even in a week that saw one conference committee
wrap up, the total number of bills in those closed-doors
negotiations actually increased compared to last week, with
another new panel tapped to iron out House-Senate
differences when it comes to legalizing sports wagering.
How much success House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate
President Karen Spilka can claim this session will hinge in
large part on what their deputies can steer through the
conference committee bottleneck.
Excluding two committees that appear all but defunct, four
major issues are tied up in the negotiation process: sports
betting, energy and climate, soldiers' home reforms and an
election system overhaul. A conference to finalize the
fiscal 2023 budget is all but inevitable, not to mention the
multibillion-dollar infrastructure and jobs bills yet to
emerge for a vote, both of which will probably evolve as
they bounce between branches.
Another conference committee could be inbound as soon as
next week now that both chambers have voted in favor of a
suite of regulatory changes aimed at the cannabis industry.
With only two representatives in dissent, the House approved
legislation whose measures -- including a process to open
"pot cafes" and to boost participation in the field from
populations disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs --
are aimed more at enriching the nascent industry that voters
legalized in 2016 than at limiting its scope.
A legislative panel came close to wrapping up its work this
week, too, but its ending is more of a whimper than a bang.
The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Study Commission
appears likely to offer just two minor recommendations and
make no broader proposal for legislation or executive action
to help keep the state's unemployment system solvent.
After about a year of study prompted by a pandemic-era surge
of joblessness that drained the system and ratcheted up
costs on employers, business groups, organized labor
representatives and Democrat lawmakers on the panel could
not agree on other reforms, including the chairs' call to
adjust and index the wage base used to execute unemployment
insurance assesments and reduce the experience rating table
over time.
That might put a dent in the chances of unemployment trust
fund reforms climbing up the legislative to-do list in the
next two and a half months.
Amid the increasingly chaotic shuffle, Baker claims he is
not yet anxious about his top priorities for his final year
in office getting overlooked.
"The end of the session is always a crush," he said Monday.
"In 2018 and 2016, which were election years for us or them
or both, we had a lot on the plate heading into the last 90
days and it's hard to say how this will all play out, but
some years we got almost everything."
The Republican governor, who had a brief illness this week
but resumed in-person public events after testing negative
for COVID-19, rolled another big idea onto the table:
spending $1.7 billion of the state's booming tax revenues
right away.
His latest supplemental budget calls for investments in
water and sewer infrastructure, higher education campuses,
building out ports to support the offshore wind industry and
more, and it also presses once again on Democrats to do
something here and now with an unprecedented flood of
taxpayer cash.
Baker wants to spend quickly, worried about a potential
economic downturn on the horizon, particularly amid surging
inflation. But in the meantime, tax revenues continue to, as
Baker put it, "soar wildly past any projections anybody had
at the start of the year."
The astonishing April haul prompted the administration on
Wednesday to upgrade its fiscal 2022 outlook for the third
time, pushing it up to a $37.666 billion projection that
stands a full $7.5 billion above the original estimate
crafted less than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Beacon
Hill is already sitting atop more than $2 billion in unspent
federal emergency aid and is well on its way to ending a
second successive year with a stunning tax surplus.
There won't be any complaints among sitting lawmakers
seeking another term, who can avoid being asked on the
campaign trail to offer austere visions to right the ship,
even if they continue to keep popular tax relief proposals
on ice.
Legislative season isn't the only one shifting into higher
gear. Candidates up and down the ballot have been descending
on local election offices and Secretary of State William
Galvin's office to file nomination papers, and political
power players are increasingly forming ranks behind their
selected options.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Doughty is looking
to support from current and past lawmakers to boost his
chances against former Rep. Geoff Diehl, while a super PAC
could create headaches in the Democratic primary for
attorney general.
Outgoing Auditor Suzanne Bump took the somewhat rare step of
wading into the Democratic primary to succeed her, backing
transportation advocate Chris Dempsey.
Bump did not stop at praising Dempsey, though. She was more
pointed than a typical intraparty endorsement, poking at
fellow auditor hopeful Sen. Diana DiZoglio while insinuating
that the Methuen Democrat did not understand where the lines
around the office's powers are drawn.
"Chris's personal integrity means that every audit will
represent a tool to improve state government, not a weapon
to take down an individual or institution or grab a
gratuitous headline," Bump said in a letter attempting to
whip Democrat delegates in Dempsey's favor.
STORY OF THE WEEK: For every item legislative leaders cross
off their to-do list, another two pop up. So it goes this
time of year.
The Boston
Globe
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Numbers don’t lie: Even in Mass., GOP candidates are
outpacing Democrats
The tallies are a warning to Democrats everywhere, said
Secretary of State William F. Galvin.
By Joan Vennochi
Direct from the very blue state of Massachusetts comes
another warning to Democrats about voter discontent.
According to Secretary of State William F. Galvin,
individual Republican candidates running for statewide
office have collected thousands more signatures than their
Democratic opponents as part of the process required to get
on the ballot. It’s a signal Galvin likens to wastewater
samples that show a rise in COVID-19. “There’s a rising tide
of potential infection out there,” he told me. “They
[Massachusetts voters] are open to these people
[Republicans].”
Galvin, a Democrat who is running for what would be a
historic eighth term as secretary of state, said he saw the
enthusiasm gap in real time as he worked to collect the
5,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot. People lined
up to sign for Republican candidates and walked away from
Democrats. The signatures — which are certified by his
office — back up that observation. According to the tallies
he gave me, in the race for secretary of state, Republican
Rayla Campbell has 11,249 certified signatures; Galvin has
7,969; and Democrat Tanisha Sullivan has 6,705.
Perhaps voters are simply tired of Galvin, a fixture on the
political scene for over 40 years. What about other races?
In the gubernatorial race — which requires 10,000 signatures
— Republican Geoff Diehl, who has been endorsed by Donald
Trump, has 16,673 certified signatures. Democrat Maura
Healey, who leads all polls by wide margins, has a little
over 14,000. The two other gubernatorial candidates —
Democrat Sonia Chang-Díaz and Republican Chris Doughty —
each have a little more than 11,000 signatures.
In the race for attorney general — which also requires
10,000 signatures — the Republican candidate, Jay McMahon,
has 20,489. Democrats Andrea Campbell and Shannon Liss-Riordan
each have just over 13,000. In the auditor’s race, which
requires only 5,000 signatures, Republican Anthony Amore,
who was endorsed by Governor Charlie Baker, has 8,187.
That’s more than either Democrat who’s running for that same
office.
These numbers can be easily dismissed as a meaningless show
of organizational strength — except that Massachusetts
Republicans have no organizational strength. They represent
only 10 to 11 percent of all registered voters, and that
percentage could sink even lower as the Trumpian wing
asserts control over what’s left of the party apparatus.
Democrats, who are highly organized, represent about 30
percent. The rest are unenrolled voters.
To Galvin, the signature tallies are a warning to Democrats
everywhere about the sour mood of the electorate. “Two years
ago, Donald Trump was a unifying factor,” he said. Today, he
said, dissatisfaction with President Biden unites voters in
a way that spells danger for Democrats.
According to a recent poll, just 46 percent of
Massachusetts voters say they approve of the job Biden is
doing as president. For Democrats, that’s disturbing, given
that Biden beat Trump by just over 33 percentage points in
Massachusetts.
Elsewhere in the country, that level of discontent fuels
predictions of an enormous red wave that would give
Republicans control of Congress and could also influence
gubernatorial races. In Massachusetts, it represents more of
a wistful longing for an alternative like Baker, who’s
derided by some in his own party as a “Republican in Name
Only.” Now that Baker has decided not to seek a third term,
the Republican options for governor are Diehl, who has
embraced Trump, and Doughty, a little-known businessman who
is trying to position himself as the non-Trump alternative
without totally alienating the Trumpers.
Much of the signature collection happened before the leaking
of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court that points to the
likely overturning of Roe v. Wade. And in Massachusetts, a
Supreme Court decision to end a constitutional right to
abortion could certainly energize voters. Even though
Massachusetts has passed laws ensuring broad access to
abortion, Democrats like Healey promise to continue to fight
for abortion rights. Meanwhile, Diehl has called the
Massachusetts Roe Act “a radical move too far by state
legislators here in our state,” but said it’s enshrined in
law. Doughty told the Globe he disapproves of abortion, but
also understands it’s protected in Massachusetts.
Social issues aside, there seems to be a mood out there,
even in Massachusetts. Galvin said he feels it, and “like an
old safecracker, my fingers start to tingle.” The signature
count and the tingling tell him the mood isn’t good for
Democrats.
State House News
Service
Saturday, May 21, 2022
GOP Delegates Qualify Guv Hopefuls Diehl, Doughty For Ballot
Diehl, LG Candidate Allen Win Party Endorsements At
Springfield Convention
By Michael P. Norton
SPRINGFIELD, MASS -- Republican delegates on Saturday
qualified both of their candidates for Massachusetts
governor - Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty - for the September
primary ballot, and gave Diehl the party's endorsement in
the race.
Delegates also gave enough support to both Leah Cole Allen
and Kate Campanale, the two GOP lieutenant governor
candidates, to ensure them ballot access.
Diehl and Allen, both former state representatives, are
running as a ticket, and were favored by party insiders at
the convention. While he has lost races for state Senate and
U.S. Senate, Diehl described himself to delegates as the
"worst nightmare" for Democrats this election cycle.
"Progressives fear us because we have the courage to stand
by our convictions and to fight against their great reset of
our country," said Diehl. "I have the courage to look them
in the eye and say 'no.' Massachusetts should not be the
testing ground for outrageous liberal experiments."
After Allen told delegates "we are the firepower who will
stand against the radical left," Diehl used his time at
center stage to call liberal progressives a "flagrant foul"
in Massachusetts and vowed to "blow the whistle on them."
He pledged to cut taxes, knocked mail-in voting, and
promised on "day one" to rehire every state worker fired due
to the vaccine mandate. He vowed to "on day two give a pink
slip to everyone who thought that was a good idea."
Doughty, a Wrentham businessman, has paired his candidacy
with Campanale, a former representative. They each secured
the support of more than 15 percent of delegates, overcoming
an obstacle that could have ended their candidacies.
Cautioning against a possible "single-party state," Doughty
said liberals are already celebrating that possibility. He
promised to "fix our schools" and "stand up to support our
police" and to aid people who are facing difficult fiscal
decisions due to soaring inflation.
"We do not need a governor who just talks about jobs. We
need a governor who has actually created jobs," Doughty
said, calling for a "zero-based" state budget that he said
will force a reevaluation of government spending to cut out
waste.
Taunton Mayor Shaunna O'Connell, a former Republican state
representative, said she knows what it takes for Republicans
to win and believes in Doughty, who she said has "most
importantly ... a path to victory."
"We must elect a governor who will put people over
politics," O'Connell said.
Campanale also raised electability in her speech to the
convention.
"We cannot come in second and pat ourselves on the back for
a good effort," she said.
Capping a long day of speeches, delegates gave Diehl 849
votes, and Doughty 345.
Allen secured 864 votes, or 70 percent of those voting, and
Campanale won 370 votes - 30 percent.
Three other Republicans running statewide this year were
nominated by acclamation since they faced no opposition.
State auditor nominee Anthony Amore was nominated by 2020
Republican Senate nominee Kevin O'Connor.
The Legislature is on a "spending spree" yet will not
embrace tax relief even with residents struggling due to
inflation, Amore said, promising to uncover and expose
waste, fraud and abuse if elected.
Saying Republicans have an opportunity to take an office
that Democrats have held for more than 80 years, Amore
suggested that his rivals for the post - Democrats Chris
Dempsey and Diana DiZoglio - don't have backgrounds in
auditing or running large organizations.
Amore said "professionalism not politics" would guide him,
if elected, and alleged that auditors over the years have
gone out of their way to maintain the status quo and not
embarrass or threaten powerful Democrats in the state.
Secretary of State nominee Rayla Campbell said she looked
forward to serving as "Madame Secretary," if elected, and
called for in-person voting, requiring voters to present
identification, and hand-counting ballots.
She urged delegates to speak out against Democrats. "We need
to be out there in front of them, going after them," she
said.
"I will make sure your voices are heard, that you know what
your rights are," she said, generally proclaiming to "expose
everything that they're doing" and honor Freedom of
Information Act requests that she said get bottled up under
Secretary William Galvin's administration.
Campbell described herself as pro-life and pro-Second
Amendment and knocked Galvin for featuring himself in
official government documents. She also stunned some in the
arena when she suggested that educators were telling
five-year-old boys they can have oral sex with each other.
Jay McMahon, the party nominee for attorney general and a
candidate for that office in 2018, criticized movements to
"defund the police" and predicted the efforts, if
successful, would lead to people being placed into holding
queues when calling local police departments for help.
McMahon said he believes vaccine mandates are "completely
illegal and unconstitutional" and though COVID-19
infections, and hospitalizations, are on the rise again, he
told delegates, "Has anybody told Beacon Hill the pandemic's
over?"
The Bourne attorney described himself as an alternative to
three Democrats running for attorney general who he said are
locked in efforts to outcompete one another for the
progressive vote.
State House News
Service
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Trump Spirit, Fighting Theme Runs Through GOP Convention
Chairman: "This Is A New Republican Party
By Michael P. Norton
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. -- Drifting from their recent moderate
roots, Massachusetts Republicans on Saturday opened a new
chapter in their party's history, hosting a decidedly
pro-Trump nominating convention that keyed off of anger
about government mandates, pledges to oppose and fight the
"radical left," and calls for a state government flush with
cash to deliver relief from high gas prices and soaring
inflation.
"This is a new Republican Party, a party that is going to
stand and fight," party chair Jim Lyons said in remarks at
the MassMutual Center, after a video presentation featuring
scenes of destructive urban protests. "This is a time to
finally take over and put the radical agenda to sleep once
and for all."
Lyons won applause from party delegates when he speculated
about Massachusetts becoming "pro-life again" - delegates
later cheered at the prospects of overturning Roe v. Wade -
and when he declared, "President Donald J. Trump is the
greatest president in my lifetime."
Lyons lost his old seat in the Massachusetts House to a
Democrat and Republicans have been slowly bleeding more
seats recently under his watch. They hold 31 seats in the
200-seat Legislature and their most popular official, Gov.
Charlie Baker, is at odds with his party and not seeking
reelection. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito also opted against running
for governor, and the names of Baker and Polito didn't come
up in convention remarks.
A Boston Globe-Suffolk University poll this month found only
just over 50 percent of those polled believe Massachusetts
is heading in the right direction, opening an opportunity
for candidates to reach frustrated voters, but nearly 72
percent of respondents in the same poll were also optimistic
about their own futures.
Some in the party see the new direction as the wrong one.
"Feels weird not to be at the MassGOP convention today,"
Republican Ed Lyons tweeted Saturday. "Republicans I know
are not going. What's the point? Today will be a celebration
of unelectable national GOP politics, and these angry white
losers will all get creamed in November, and love it."
But Shaunna O'Connell said there is hope. She said she was
an unknown "mom with a cause" when she ran for state rep as
a Republican and beat former Rep. Jim Fagan, and she later
prevailed against strong opposition from Democrats to win
her current office, mayor of Taunton.
"It won't be easy," she said. "It never is for a Republican
in Massachusetts, but it is possible."
Billerica Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo said that during his
12 years on Beacon Hill "I found myself surrounded by those
who didn't want to ruffle any feathers." He compromised to
get things done for his community, he said, but he called
government-ordered pandemic shutdowns and lockdowns a
"reawakening."
"We were even told that it was dangerous to be outside on a
golf course so therefore golf courses were closed down,"
Lombardo said.
Lombardo continued, "We need more Republicans on Beacon Hill
to stand beside me and fight. We are going to look back at
this time in history as a time when we had to stand up and
fight for our basic rights."
The party's Secretary of State nominee, Rayla Campbell, told
delegates they "should be pissed." Referring to Democrats,
who she called "rotten devils," she urged delegates to "make
them uncomfortable."
Halifax School Committee member Summer Schmaling said many
parents oppose in-school efforts to "turn out children into
little social justice activists" and chafe at questions in
student surveys about "social emotional learning" and "microaggressions."
"Doesn't the government know that you will not mess with our
babies," she said, alleging that education has strayed too
far towards a "social agenda" and too far away from
academics. "We will fight to the death."
Later in the convention, 40 Days For Life founder David
Bereit railed against abortion.
"Enough is enough," he said. "It's time to bring
Massachusetts back to life."
Defenders of abortion rights and reproductive health
services have strenuously vowed to protect access to
abortion even if Roe v. Wade is struck down.
"If I offend anybody today, I don't care," said former
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan,
who said Trump did more than his predecessors to secure the
southern border, and alleged that border areas are currently
open "on purpose."
Homan capped his speech by leading the crowd in a "Trump"
cheer and then whipping out his cellphone to quickly record
it.
State House News
Service
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Census: Mass. Population Was Significantly Overcounted
By Colin A. Young
The U.S. Census Bureau said last year that it had counted
7,029,917 people living in Massachusetts in 2020 but in a
report issued Thursday, the bureau said it had actually
overcounted Bay Staters by more than 2 percent.
Massachusetts was one of eight states with statistically
significant population overcounts, according to the bureau's
Post-Enumeration Survey Estimation Report. That report now
lists the Massachusetts "Census count for Post-Enumeration
Survey universe" at 6,784,000 people and said the Census had
overcounted people living in Massachusetts by 2.24 percent.
The other states with statistically significant overcounts
were Hawaii (+6.79 percent), Delaware (+5.45 percent), Rhode
Island (+5.05 percent), Minnesota (+3.84 percent), New York
(+3.44 percent), Utah (+2.59 percent) and Ohio (+1.49
percent). Six other states were undercounted to a
statistically significant degree: Arkansas (-5.04 percent),
Tennessee (-4.78 percent), Mississippi (-4.11 percent),
Florida (-3.48 percent), Illinois (-1.97 percent) and Texas
(-1.92 percent).
"Achieving an accurate count for all 50 states and DC is
always a difficult endeavor, and these results suggest it
was difficult again in 2020, particularly given the
unprecedented challenges we faced," Census Bureau Director
Robert Santos said. "It is important to remember that the
quality of the 2020 Census total population count is robust
and consistent with that of recent censuses. However, we
know there is still more work to do in planning future
censuses to ensure equitable coverage across the United
States and we are working to overcome any and all obstacles
to achieve that goal."
Santos added that "none of the assessments alone can be
considered definitive since no 'true count' of the
population exists."
In the lead-up to the decennial Census, Secretary of State
William Galvin and others repeatedly raised red flags about
the threat of an undercount in the 2020 Census, which would
have impacted federal aid flowing to Massachusetts for the
next decade.
"An undercount risks all aspects of our lives: adequate
funding for affordable housing, roads, hospitals and
schools, as well as adequate representation," the MassCounts
coalition said in February 2020. "But every year,
communities are under-counted, under-funded, and
underrepresented."
The
Epoch Times
Saturday, May 21, 2022
2020 Census: Significant Miscounts in 14 States
Mostly Red States Lost Congressional Seats; Mostly Blue
States Gained Congressional Seats
By Naveen Athrappully
The 2020 census made significant miscounts, with population
numbers in six states being undercounted while eight states
saw an overcount in population, based on data from a
recently published U.S. Census Bureau report.
Interestingly, five of the six states where the population
was undercounted were red states—Arkansas, Tennessee,
Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. The only blue state was
Illinois.
Of the eight states where the population was overcounted,
six were blue states, with the exceptions being Utah and the
battleground state of Ohio.
In Arkansas, the population was undercounted by 5.04
percent, Tennessee by 4.78 percent, Mississippi by 4.11
percent, Florida by 3.48 percent, Illinois by 1.97 percent,
and Texas by 1.92 percent.
In Hawaii, the number of people was overcounted by 6.79
percent, Delaware by 5.45 percent, Rhode Island by 5.05
percent, Minnesota by 3.84 percent, New York by 3.44
percent, Utah by 2.59 percent, Massachusetts by 2.24
percent, and Ohio by 1.49 percent, according to the May 19
report.
“For the remaining states and the District of Columbia, the
estimated net coverage error rates were not significantly
different from zero,” it said.
There are several explanations for the miscounts according
to AP. In states like Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and
Florida, local administrations are believed to have not
spent many resources to encourage residents to fill out
census forms.
Demographer Allison Plyer points out that in states like
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, the proportion of
homes with a computer and internet subscription is among the
lowest. The 2020 census was the first in history in which
most participants were encouraged to fill out online forms.
“Get-out-the-count efforts can make a big difference, even
when your community has poor internet access and is less
likely to answer the census,” Plyer told the media outlet.
States that suffered from undercounting lost potential
congressional seats. In Florida, the undercount translates
into 750,600 missed citizens. According to an analysis by
Election Data Services, Florida only needed 171,561 more
people to get another seat.
Similarly in Texas, where 189,645 more citizens in the
census would have helped the state gain a seat,
undercounting led to 560,000 missing residents.
In Minnesota, the overcount resulted in around 219,000
additional residents. If the state had 26 fewer people, it
would have never won the 435th and final congressional seat
in the House.
In Rhode Island, the 5 percent overcount resulted in 55,000
additional residents. If the state had 19,127 fewer people,
one seat would have been lost.
John Marion, executive director of the government watchdog
group Common Cause Rhode Island, admitted to AP that his
state was a “lucky beneficiary of a statistical anomaly.”
As a result, Rhode Island will have more representation in
Congress for a decade. The state’s members of Congress are
Democrats.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island Republican Party National
Committeeman Steve Frias slammed the “aggressive census
counting tactics,” warning that the count will undermine
people’s confidence in the administration.
“Democracy only works if people trust the system,” Frias
said in a statement to AP. “Double counting 55,000 people in
order to hold on to a congressional seat destroys that
trust.” |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
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interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
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