The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 18, 2002
Pols delay vote on $1B tax hike
over public relations strategy
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
The Legislature's $1.14 billion tax-hike package temporarily
derailed yesterday after state senators balked at what they believed to be a bad public relations strategy.
House leaders announced Monday the giant tax hike -- the
biggest in state history -- would be extracted from tardy budget negotiations and fast-tracked through the Legislature
yesterday.
But the tax hike never surfaced, and the House and Senate
both adjourned without explanation from the chambers' leaders.
Senate Minority Leader Brian P. Lees (R-East Longmeadow)
said his Democratic colleagues insisted during a private Tuesday caucus that the tax-hike votes be taken in
tandem with the budget.
By taking both votes the same day, senators hope to minimize
the media damage -- "two days of stories, as opposed to one," Lees said.
The current plan -- subject to change -- is to take up both
the tax hikes and the budget Friday, which would also serve to bury the controversial votes in lower-profile weekend
news reports, Lees said.
"That's what's wrong with this place -- everything is
thought of as how it will play in the press, as opposed to what is right or wrong," Lees said.
The House passed the tax hike as a separate bill, saying
they needed to know how much money they had before they actually spent it.
But the Senate rolled the tax hikes into its budget, arguing
there should be a direct link between money raised and programs saved.
Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, a gubernatorial
candidate, said it's not a problem to pull the tax hikes out of the budget -- but he added senators aren't willing to fully
capitulate to the House.
"It will come before the Senate as a separate bill, but
probably in conjunction with the budget itself," Birmingham said.
Birmingham said he expects the compromise budget to preserve
the Senate's $100 million boost to school aid, but he acknowledged that lawmakers will probably cut deeply into
Medicaid, throwing thousands of poor people off their health insurance.
Assistant House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones (R-North
Reading) said the Senate's 48-hour delay isn't going to matter to voters once they are paying an average of $317 in
higher taxes. "Largely, it's irrelevant," Jones said. "But hey, good for them, if that's what their
leader wants to do."
House Ways and Means Chairman John H. Rogers (D-Norwood),
who on Monday trumpeted yesterday as the action day, did not return a call. Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift
observed yesterday's tax-hike positioning with a shrug -- and a loaded veto pen.
"Frankly, no, it really doesn't matter," said Swift
spokesman Jim Borghesani. "The governor's ready to do what she has to do."
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The Springfield Union-News
Thursday, July 18, 2002
Lawmakers delay vote on tax hikes
by Dan Ring
BOSTON -- State lawmakers yesterday delayed a vote on a
disputed $1.14 billion tax increase until after release of a new state budget that is expected to feature deep cuts in
human services, education and health care.
A legislative committee on Tuesday released a compromise tax
package and the bill was set to receive final approval in the House of Representatives and the Senate yesterday. That plan
was scrapped yesterday.
"I'm not going to vote on a tax increase until I see what is
in the budget," said Senate Majority Leader Linda J. Melconian, D-Springfield.
The budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 now is
expected to be released today. Melconian said lawmakers tentatively plan to vote on the budget and the tax increases
tomorrow.
The estimated $23 billion budget is expected to include
about $1.5 billion in cuts. "It's a very grim, bleak budget," Melconian said.
Senate Minority Leader Brian P. Lees, R-East Longmeadow,
said yesterday that Democratic leaders are seeking to avoid two days of bad press. By voting on the new taxes
and the budget on the same day instead of on separate days, the Democrats are
aiming to limit negative publicity, Lees said.
"There isn't one single innovative new program in the
budget," Lees said. "It's all tax and spend and cuts. I find that absolutely mind-boggling."
In order to close a projected deficit caused by falling tax
collections, lawmakers are also planning $1.14 billion in new taxes including freezing the income tax, raising the cigarette
tax and repealing a deduction for contributions to charities.
Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift is pledging to veto the tax
increases. Lawmakers are expected to quickly override her vetoes by more than the necessary two-thirds margin in each
branch.
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The Telegram & Gazette
Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Editorial
Passing the buck
Legislative leaders, unable or unwilling to come up with
about $630 million in additional spending reductions to balance the fiscal 2003 budget, have decided to pass the buck to the
governor.
Sadly, it's the kind of self-serving political maneuver
we've come to expect on Beacon Hill.
In weeks of negotiations, House and Senate leaders managed
to agree on about $300 million in cuts. They propose making up the difference by drawing down the rapidly shrinking
rainy-day fund -- a tactic Gov. Jane M. Swift has said she would veto.
The handoff leaves the governor with a limited range of
possibilities, none particularly palatable. Changes might involve lottery payouts and distribution, affordable housing,
pension-fund payouts, smoking prevention programs, dental services and others. (Local aid
is on the table as well, but cuts in that area would wreak havoc with already fragile
municipal budgets throughout the state.)
The decision to pass the buck caps a series of maneuvers
this budget cycle by House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and gubernatorial candidate Thomas F. Birmingham.
First, there was the spending plan floated by the House Ways
and Means Committee, a bogus budget calculated to spread panic and bolster the case for tax and fee increases. The
tactic had the desired effect and the Legislature approved $1.2 billion in
new fees and taxes -- the largest increase in state history.
While the spring budget theatrics dragged on, revenue
projections continued to dwindle. When Ms. Swift became a lame duck she also became the perfect scapegoat for the state's
budgetary woes.
Reportedly, the governor is more than willing to step into
the leadership gap. Nonetheless, to foist off responsibility for reductions almost three weeks into the budget year -- and
half a year after Ms. Swift submitted her budget proposal, only to have it pronounced dead on
arrival by legislative leaders -- is unconscionable.
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The MetroWest Daily News
Thursday, July 18, 2002
Editorial
Legislature punts away the budget
The details of what is developing as this year's compromise
on the state budget are new, but the pattern is familiar. Again, the budget is late. Again, the decisions are being made
behind closed doors. Again, the leaders of the House and Senate can't find a way to bridge their
differences.
This time, the leaders' solution to this familiar impasse is
to pass the buck to acting Gov. Jane Swift. The Legislature will send her a budget that is $330 million out of balance,
with the tacit understanding that the vetoes she makes will not be overridden.
If the dysfunction of the Legislature is familiar so,
unfortunately, is the cowardice. House Speaker Tom Finneran and Senate President Tom Birmingham seem to think their main job
is to prevent legislators from having to make any difficult votes. They reinforced this
impression yesterday, when they abruptly adjourned a joint session of the Legislature rather
than have their members take a position on three proposed constitutional
amendments.
Birmingham and Finneran weren't able to manage a coherent,
democratic budget process when the state was awash in surpluses, so it's not surprising that their inability to
compromise should resurface when faced with the most difficult budget in a decade. Tough times require
tough decisions, but Finneran and Birmingham have refused to let the Legislature
they control set spending priorities. Before taking any serious look at cutting spending, the Legislature
raised taxes by $1.2 billion, carefully timing the action so legislators wouldn't
have to vote for new taxes until it was too late for opposing candidates to file nominating papers.
Finneran and Birmingham figured the tax increase would close
the budget gap, saving legislators the painful task of deciding which programs work and which don't, which public
investments are crucial and which aren't, where money is being well-spent
and where it's being wasted. In most places, that's the heart of a legislator's job, but not in Massachusetts.
Here, the political culture is based not on tough decisions forced by limited resources but on
spreading the cash around to make every interest happy.
At this writing, the conference committee considering the
budget has yet to report. But word is they'll close half the remaining $600 million gap by simply taking the lower number
figures in the House and Senate budgets. The other $300 million will be charged to the rainy day
fund, but since neither Swift nor Finneran wants to dip further into the reserves, the
understanding is that Swift will veto at least $300 million to bring the budget back into
balance.
This will all happen quickly, which is another hallmark of
the Birmingham-Finneran Legislature. The conference committee is expected to report its compromise out today, with
the final vote on the tax hikes and the budget coming Friday, most likely
after the press and citizenry have left for the weekend. Swift will have 10 days to make her vetoes, leaving one
day before the session ends for a flurry of override votes.
After it's over, lawmakers will brag that they got their
work done a full four months earlier than last year's fiasco. Those who pay close attention know better. This year's budget
process has been as flawed and undemocratic as previous years, and those who pay taxes
and depend on state services will pay the price.
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