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
Friday, November 13, 1998


Barbara Named to Governor's Transition Team


Barbara Anderson has been named to Governor Cellucci's Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group, so you will never have to worry about economic and fiscal policy again!

Chip Ford --

PS. Be sure to read Barbara's comments, following the Cellucci administration news release.

 

massseal.gif (3148 bytes)

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
STATE HOUSE BOSTON 02133
(617) 727-3600

ARGEO PAUL CELLUCCI
GOVERNOR


For Release: Thursday, November 12, 1998
Contact: Ilene Hoffer
Shawn Feddeman
(617) 727-2759


CELLUCCI, SWIFT NAME

TRANSITION TEAM WORKING GROUP CHAIRS


     Governor Paul Cellucci and Lieutenant Governor-elect Jane Swift today announced the chairmen of their four transition team working groups. Martin Feldstein, Charles Baker, Elaine Ullian and Eileen Donoghue are all proven leaders charged with carrying out the Cellucci-Swift vision for a better Massachusetts.

     "We are excited to have such dedicated professionals heading up each of these working groups," said Cellucci. "Each of them will bring a fresh perspective and new energy and ideas to the policy table so that when Jane and I are officially sworn in in January, we will hit the ground running."

     "We have set ambitious goals, but we have assembled a terrific team to tackle these challenges," said Swift. "Aiming high and achieving these goals will help us ensure that our state remains a great place to live and work."

     Dr. Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, has been selected to chair the Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group. Feldstein, also President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, served as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan. Feldstein will use as a blueprint the progress Cellucci has made on cutting taxes, spurring economic growth and ensuring a fiscally responsible state government. This group will be charged with the following goals:

  • offer solutions to Massachusetts-specific factors that drive up business costs;

  • develop an economic development structure responsive to a changing and uncertain economic future, while identifying and recommending actions that refine and retain the Commonwealth's competitive edge;

  • identify infrastructure priorities and a capital planning strategy to advance economic growth;

  • propose changes to the state's financial controls to strengthen fiscal responsibility; and

  • develop solutions to improve the interface among state agencies, such as the Department of Revenue, Department of Employment and Training, Department of Economic Development, the Executive Office for Environmental Affairs, the Secretary of State and other regulatory agencies, and constituent groups such as businesses and families.

     "The Massachusetts economy has been doing well in recent years. The tax reforms implemented under Governors Cellucci and Weld have helped make this possible and will lead to even better performance in the future," said Feldstein. "Our committee will be working with the Governor to develop new economic and tax cut initiatives."

[ . . . ] Charles Baker, President and CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, will serve as Chairman of the Education Working Group. . . . Elaine Ullian, President and CEO of Boston Medical Center, will chair the Family and Health Care Working Group. . . . Eileen Donoghue, Mayor of Lowell, will head up the Quality of Life Working Group.

[ . . . ]

     Cellucci and Swift also thanked Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for offering their facilities for use by the Transition Team for meetings.

     Last week, Cellucci and Swift also named the transition senior staff members responsible for coordinating the four working groups and acting as liaison between the groups and the executive office: Virginia Buckingham as Staff Director, Rob Gray and Jim Connolly as Senior Advisors, Steve O'Neill as Personnel Director, Bill Smith as Policy Director and Kellie Rose as Deputy Staff Director.

Attached is a list of the members of each working group.


Working Group Members
Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group,
Chaired by Dr. Martin Feldstein

Wayne Budd - Vice President, Bell Atlantic
Kathy Welch - Director of Human Resources, Sun Microsystems
Ed Woolen - Vice President, Raytheon
Dr. Tom Durant - Massachusetts General Hospital
Tom May - President, CEO and Chairman, Boston Edison
Bob Marsh - Massport Board Member
Jim Coull - President, JM Coull
Tom Wheeler - CEO, MassMutual
Cathy Minehan - President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
David Weinstein - Senior Vice President, Fidelity Investments
Kevin Cohee - President, Boston Bank of Commerce
Jim Mahaney - Vice President, Fleet Bank
Tony Dolphin - President, Springboard Technologies
John Gould - President, Associated Industries of Massachusetts
Cynthia Gordon - Vice President and General Counsel, Quaker
Fabric Corporation, Fall River
Janice Loux - President, Hotel Workers Union
George Cashman - President, Teamsters Union, Local 25
Michael Widmer - Executive Director, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
Barbara Anderson - Founder and Executive Director, Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
John Cogliano - President, Sullivan & Cogliano
Howard Foley - President, Mass HiTech Council
Mike Astrue - General Counsel, Biogen

[ . . . ]

 


Barbara does a daily "Citizens Update" on Northshore radio station WESX AM-1230, as well as a monthly program with host Al Needham, and a weekly Thursday morning appearance with Paul Sullivan on WLLH in Lowell. (We're also trying to syndicate her daily "Citizens Update," like her biweekly column.)

Today's "Citizens Update" follows.


WESX commentary November 13, 1998


This is Barbara Anderson, for CLT&G, with a WESX Citizens Update.

In my twenty years as a taxpayer activist on Beacon Hill, I've often wondered what it would be like to "buy access," to be a part of something called "influence peddling," to be on the sleazy side of "campaign finance reform."

Alas, I've never been able to afford this dubious distinction. And I'm still so naive that, early this week, when I agreed to be on the Governor's transition team, I thought I was doing him a favor!

So you can see my name today in the Boston Globe as a member of the Economic and Fiscal Policy Working group. Then you can see the "exposé" in the Boston Herald of the Economic and Fiscal Policy Working group; the accusations of influence peddling brought by some group called Public Campaign! Have I finally made the Big Leagues of Beacon Hill scandal?

No, sadly, my name isn't mentioned in the Herald story -- only the names of those who gave money to the Cellucci campaign, and the two union heads who broke some kind of ranks to endorse the Governor. Seems they are all being rewarded for their support by getting to "influence policy."

I didn't give Cellucci any money, and the endorsement of a taxpayer activist against Harshbarger would have been assumed. So I guess I'm just a token "good government" member of the transition team ... who has one preliminary question for Public Campaign: who is the Governor supposed to appoint, if not his friends ... his enemies?

This is Barbara Anderson.


Return to CLT&G Updates page