"Budget calls for tax hikes, deep cuts; Local aid could drop by 15%; Transportation overhaul OK'd" by Matt Viser and Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | June 19, 2009
House and Senate leaders unveiled last night a state budget for the next fiscal year that would slash services in nearly every area of Massachusetts government and that calls for additional sales, meals, and alcohol taxes.
Yup, we know where all the money is going.
Under the $27.4 billion spending plan, expected to be voted on today, some communities could see up to a 15 percent cut in local aid, officials said....
And as in all things, we are either a step ahead or a step behind (if not in lock step) with California.
Governor Guts State Services
Pigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy
Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
How many times I gotta put 'em up?
Related: The California "Crisis"
The activity at the State House - lawmakers were also furiously finalizing an ethics overhaul package - set the stage for a high-stakes chess match that will unfold over the coming days....
Oooh, I'm all excited, aren't you? What a bunch of bullsh.....
Patrick, when approached later by a reporter on a State House elevator, said with a laugh, “What part of no comment do you not understand?’’
His reticence to comment substantively on the transportation overhaul was in stark contrast to his approach last week, when Patrick was so pleased with lawmakers’ work on pension overhaul legislation that he sent gifts to House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (a box of cigars) and Senate President Therese Murray (a vase of flowers).
FLASHBACK: LEAVE it to the DEMOCRAPS to VIOLATE their OWN RULE as SOON as they PASS IT!!
"Patrick's gifts probably violated ethics rules" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | June 12, 2009
Beacon Hill has had more than its fair share of scandals this year. But Flowergate? Cigargate?
Yesterday, after legislators agreed to approve pension reform, Governor Deval Patrick sent House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo a box of cigars and Senate President Therese Murray some flowers.
Nice, right? You can bet the cigars weren't White Owls purchased at a nearby
So WHO PAID for those? TAXPAYERS?
In fact, they were so nice, sitting in a fancy vase, that they became a topic of conversation when the Senate held a closed-door caucus to discuss ethics reform in Murray's office, with the flowers on display nearby. Well, nice but for one nagging fact: They probably violated state ethics rules....
They certainly violated a key tenet of the proposed ethics overhaul Patrick is trying to push through the Legislature: an outright ban on gifts of any kind to public officials. Last night, when a reporter inquired about the gifts, officials and their various spokespeople kicked into damage control. Patrick aides argued a technicality....
Pffffft! SOME REFORM!
Seth Gitell, a spokesman for DeLeo, said: All indications were that he would do the only logical thing with the gift: smoke them.
Oh, I see. It is OKAY for HIM to SMOKE!!! Did he pay the increased taxes?
That'll fill up those closed rooms, 'eh, Bob?
Yes, world, that's Massachushitts DemocraPs for you!
And NO NOTE from the paper, huh?
The LAW-BREAKING is just a LAUGHER, huh?
Well, I'M NOT!!!!!!!!
Patrick, looking ahead to next year’s reelection campaign, appears to be increasingly weighing such decisions for their politics as well as their policy....
That is NOT GOING to HELP HIM because WE HAVE TURNED on that LOOTER!!
HE, like all of 'em, has BROKEN HIS PROMISES and WE WANT MITT BACK -- or at least, ANOTHER REPUBLICAN because Massachushitts NEEDS ONE!!
And you are going to LOVE THIS:
Lawmakers had little time to read the transportation bill, much less study it, given that it was filed only 16 hours before debate began in the Senate. Some details, including a provision that would give the mayor of Boston authority to approve commercial development projects built over the turnpike, were slipped in with little notice....
And STINK DEMOCRAPS AROUND HERE criticized Republicans down south!
Not that WASHINGTON DOESN'T DESERVE CRITICISM; however, I'm TIRED of the HYPOCRISY!
Labor unions blasted the transportation bill, saying the plan would “eviscerate the rights of workers to collectively bargain.’’ Any lawmaker who votes for it, the AFL-CIO warned, may not be considered a friend of labor at election time.
That's LIBERAL DEMOCRAPS from Massachushitts, world!!!
And BIG LOSS! We SEE how much POWER LABOR HAS these days.
Of course, it would mean BYE-BYE, Deval!!!!!!!!
“It eliminates all unions at the Turnpike Authority and takes no regard for collective bargaining,’’ said Robert F. Cullinane, head of the Teamsters Local 127, which represents toll-takers. “We thought we were voting for Democrats up here.’’
Well, LIVE and LEARN, 'eh?
I certainly have!
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