CITIZENS
for
Limited Taxation & Government
Post Office Box 408 Peabody, Massachusetts
01960 (617) 248-0022
E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org Web-page: http://cltg.org
CLT&G
Update
Sunday, August 9, 1998
I'll bet you thought "The Best Legislature Money Can Buy" had gone home on its
extended 5-month taxpayer-paid vacation, that it was safe to kick back and enjoy the
summer, that your liberty and property -- at least what little they've left you with --
was secure for the rest of the year.
If so, you'd be wrong.
While it's "members" are off playing hookey for
the rest of the year, "Imperious Maximus" Finneran and "El
Presidente" Birmingham now have cleared away what passed for any political
opposition on "Bacon Hill" and need no longer even
pretend that this is a representative democracy. (Remember, when the Legislature is not in
formal session -- as it is now -- all it takes is one member's objection to prevent
passage of anything.)
For starters, on Thursday they eliminated county
government.
The Salem Evening News
Friday, August 7, 1998
Bell tolls for Essex County government
By DAN RING
Ottaway News Service
BOSTON--The Legislature yesterday voted final
approval for the elimination of Essex County government. . .
The House and the Senate yesterday approved
the county elimination during informal meetings, which are normally only for issues that
are not controversial. The bill, which calls for abolishing county government by next July
1, was sent to the desk of Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci, who is expected to sign it.
The measure was approved faster than expected, considering it stalled at midnight last
Friday, the last day for formal meetings for the Legislature. . . .
Under the rules of informal sessions, the
bill could have been blocked by any lawmaker....
The bill also calls for abolishing Hampshire
County by Jan. 1 and Berkshire County by Jan 1, 2000. . .
Maybe next week the two will eliminate the
Office of Governor, after all, who'd miss it?
The Boston Sunday Herald
August 9, 1998
Pols & Politics
Voting Rights
Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci can't even get
fellow Republicans to get on board when he is driving the train.
Last week, the state Senate overrode
Cellucci's budget vetoes 19 times. Eleven times, not even a single Republican joined with
Cellucci to sustain the veto. No more than four of the seven GOP senators ever voted with
Cellucci and two never voted with him.
Actually, why not eliminate the entire
Legislature and stop pretending -- just accept government by royal decree of the
Finneran/Birmingham co-monarchy and save the outrageous salaries of the other 198 yes-men
"members" and a governor who is either alone and powerless or will be just
another yes-man puppet, a team "member," after November?
Would you like to know where your $1
billion-plus tax over-payment is being spent this year? Probably not, but you really
should be aware of some of the "unmet needs" that are now going to be generously
met.
The Salem Evening News
Friday, August 7, 1998
Local projects could be felled by Cellucci pen
By DAN RING
Ottaway News Service
BOSTON -- A program for fish farming would
become a key part of Salem's waterfront, replacing an empty state laboratory.
In downtown Ipswich, a new walkway along the
Ipswich River would be a draw for tourism. And the Essex Agricultural and Technical
Institute in Danvers would give students more access to computers, new classrooms and
other improvements.
These are just a few of the local
projects in a bill that would exhaust more than a third of the state's $1 billion budget
surplus. The big catch: Acting Gov. Paul
Cellucci wants to free money for a one-time tax cut by slashing up to $300 million from
the $405 million bill.
"That's excessive," Cellucci said
after the Legislature passed the bill last week. "I intend to make some significant
vetoes. They are spending too much."
Barbara Anderson,
co-director of Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government,
is urging the acting governor to veto virtually the entire bill. Like Cellucci, Anderson believes the money should go for tax cuts, not
pork-barrel.
Anderson
said the Legislature's intent is clear. "They are getting rid of money. They are
spending down the surplus. They are sopping up the surplus -- our money -- by sending it
around the state to any place where there is a landing pad."
Cellucci's promise of vetoes is leaving some
local officials on pins and needles.
Anthony Cotoia, an executive assistant at
Salem State College, is watching the fate of nearly $600,000 in the bill for purchasing
tanks, filters and other equipment for an aquaculture program on the Salem waterfront.
The state spent $822,000 to upgrade the
former Cat Cove lab last year, but Cotoia said it needs to be equipped.
"If that money doesn't come in, we would
have a real good building that is renovated, but not functioning," Cotoia said.
Gustave Olson, superintendent of the Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute, said he
could accomplish a lot with the $1.5 million in the bill for his school.
Olson wants to repair a leaky roof, expand
connections to the Internet, make improvements for the handicapped and lease some portable
classrooms.
But Olson fears Cellucci's veto pen.
"I lobby every week," he said.
"I lobby everybody I know. But I don't have high hopes. We'll probably be one of the
first to go."
Other local projects facing vetoes:
$3 million for equipment to control air
pollution at a trash-to-energy plant used by Peabody, Hamilton, Manchester-by-the-Sea,
Wenham and 19 other communities.
$140,000 for a walkway along Ipswich River.
$650,000 for designing improvements to a
sea wall along the causeway that leads to Marblehead Neck.
$23.5 million for grants for library
construction including a new regional library in Hamilton and Wenham.
$300,000 to remove asbestos at the Coffin
School in Marblehead.
$1.2 million for a new police station in
Swampscott.
Cellucci could veto the items any time
between now and next Tuesday. In the meantime, local officials and state lawmakers are
writing letters and lobbying the acting governor to preserve their favorite projects.
Ipswich Selectman Patrick McNally said he is
hoping that Cellucci will spare the $140,000 for the proposed walkway along the Ipswich
River near the community's downtown.
"It would be a great thing to have in
Ipswich," McNally said. "It's something that is going to get people walking in
the downtown. It will bring people together. It's a pretty cheap investment in something I
think will come out pretty nice."
Robert Moroney, director of the Department of
Public Works in Manchester-by-the-Sea, said the bill contains $3 million that would help
communities that use the incinerator in North Andover. It's going to cost $55 million to
install anti-pollution equipment on the plant.
Communities are now paying twice the
statewide average for disposal of waste, Moroney said. It's hard to say if the acting
governor will veto the money, he said. "He's going to make up his own mind one way or
the other," Moroney said. "It was a feather in the cap to get it passed."
You might as well enjoy the summer, friends.
Your "members" in the House and Senate certainly are, on their $46,410 a year base salaries (and
some-80 of them get additional "leadership" bonuses of at least $7,500)!
Chip Ford --
PS. Do you know any of the few
candidates challenging them for their seats who are receiving $19,337.50 ($46,410 annual base pay, divided by
12 months, multiplied by the next 5 months) from us taxpayers, and the next five months
off from their productive jobs in the Real World so that they too can campaign
full-time for the job?
Gee, I wonder why there are so few candidates
. . . ?
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