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.
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ARGEO PAUL CELLUCCI
"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:
"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
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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.