You GOTTA DUMP the DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR!
You NEED divided government!
Related: The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Problem
The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy
The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Ruling Party
Massachusetts Democrats Keep Making the Same Mistakes
Oh, I feel so filthy and I just showered.
"Ex-T chief urged fare hike delay; E-mail shows Patrick administration snubbed argument by Grabauskas" by Andrea Estes and Matt Viser, Globe Staff | August 11, 2009
Weeks before he was ousted, MBTA general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas questioned the need for near-term fare increases on the T but was rebuffed by Governor Deval Patrick’s transportation secretary, e-mails obtained by the Globe show - directly contradicting the administration’s portrayal of Grabauskas as the one pushing for higher fares.
Translation: They are bald-faced, brazen liars. Your gummint, offensive liberals of Massachushitts! (Didn't take my blogger's tourettes meds this morning)
See: Patrick's Political Scapegoating
Hey, I'm not trying to be divisive; I'M HURT at what the LYING LOOTERS of GOVERNMENT have done in this liberal bellweather of a stinking carcass. I USED TO BE ONE of you smug, self-righteous, self-adulating, conceited s***s but NOT ANYMORE!
YOU have to REACH OUT to ME NOW!!!!!!!
In a July 6 e-mail to Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr., Grabauskas detailed a plan to delay a fare increase until January 2011, writing that that there would probably be enough new state sales tax revenue and federal stimulus money to “spare our customers, many of whom are poor and transit dependent, a fare increase for an additional year, during the worst economic climate in 80 years.’’
Aloisi wrote back the same day and advocated a more immediate fare increase, for January 2010....
These guys see FEES and TAXES and their EYES LIGHT UP like it's THEIR MONEY!!!!
Oh, btw, they are SHAKING DOWN the POOREST of the city's residents, too! That's your LIBERAL COMPASSION for you -- as this government serves you-know-who.
Publicly, Aloisi and even Patrick have told a different story, seeking to cast Grabauskas, whom they forced to resign last week, as the one pushing a boost in fares.
They should be TAKING a DIP in the HARBOR right about now, NO?!!!!!
The governor, asked yesterday who was arguing for the increase, said, “You should ask the T that. It didn’t come from me.’’ Asked directly whether his administration had been advocating for it, Patrick said, “No.’’
See? He CAN'T HELP but LIE!!It's a KNEE-JERK with this guys!!!!! First lie, then cover it up, then lie again, then hope it all goes away and the public goes back to... I'll spare you the descriptive verbiage today.
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Grabauskas, speaking publicly for the first time since he was forced to resign Thursday, said in an interview yesterday that he was pushed out in part because Patrick administration officials were worried he would question the need for a fare increase at a public hearing yesterday on the T’s proposed 20 percent boost in fares.
Grabauskas said that $160 million in new sales tax revenue earmarked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and $18 million in federal stimulus money, along with future savings from reforming employee health benefits and job cuts, made an immediate fare increase unnecessary....
Grabauskas said he was stunned that Aloisi, while announcing Grabauskas’s resignation last week, asserted that any decision on a fare increase would be put on hold until former John Hancock chief executive David D’Alessandro can conduct a financial review of the transit agency. Grabauskas said that suggested to him that the administration will look for a way to put off the increase and claim credit for helping commuters.
“I screamed at the TV at home, ‘You son of a [expletive]! You’re going to steal my plan and then let Patrick rescue the fare payers!’’’ Grabauskas said. “It’s Orwellian. This is what I’ve been putting up with for the past two and a half years.’’
Oh, I KNIOW THAT FEELING!!!
That is why the TV REMAINS SAFELY OFF -- save for the ODD MOVIE here and there and the hospitable requirement of the baseball game when rquired (with my constant criticism of the sponsors in his ear, even the start paper here, ha-ha!)
Aloisi declined to comment. His spokesman, Colin Durrant, accused Grabauskas of trying to “rewrite history.’’
Newspaper should know all about that; they do it all the time with their "background" paragraphs.
Patrick said yesterday that he would await a complete review of the MBTA finances before deciding whether to support a proposed fare increase. In addition, the governor, in his first extensive comments about Grabauskas’s removal, said it was “never personal, at least not from my perspective,’’ but he raised several questions about Grabauskas’s performance.
“You look at a record of two serious crashes in a short period of time, you look at a record of projects that, I think, not one has been on time and on budget in the last few years,’’ Patrick said. “There’s some serious questions there that I had and that others have.’’
Grabauskas, 46, who was appointed general manager by former governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, agreed to step down after the MBTA board of directors offered to buy out the remaining nine months of his five-year contract. Though he will collect nearly $330,000, Grabauskas said he would have preferred to stay on the job....
Oh, yeah, IT COST YOU MORE $$$, taxpayers -- for a job that is DONE in TWO MONTHS!!!!
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"Aloisi promises a better MBTA; Says agency needs new operating model May not replace general manager" by Matt Viser and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | August 8, 2009
New details emerged on how Governor Deval Patrick’s administration forced the resignation Thursday of Daniel A. Grabauskas as MBTA general manager....
Related: Patrick's Political Scapegoating
Who cares, other than you ONCE AGAIN COST the TAXPAYERS MONEY with YOUR POLITICAL BS!
Critics blasted the settlement with Grabauskas, with one leading lawmaker calling it “totally irresponsible.’’
****************
Grabauskas’s resignation Thursday night may have accomplished one goal Patrick and his aides had long wanted. But it did not unfold the way they had hoped. In a high-stakes stare-down, Grabauskas won a significant payout, $327,487, that Patrick administration officials did not want to pay.
Then WHY DID YOU START IT, dicks?!!
That’s because, during a chaotic, closed-door negotiating session of the MBTA board, administration officials failed to persuade enough board members to fire or put Grabauskas on leave, which would probably have led to a smaller settlement. Once that initial attempt failed, it left the administration - led by Aloisi, chairman of the T board - with only one option to remove Grabauskas: buy out the rest of his contract.
Why do it at all? Jobs done in two months!
Grabauskas's removal has potentially far-reaching political implications. Patrick not only went against many top Democrats who backed Grabauskas, he will now be held responsible for an agency that has been plagued with problems. Meanwhile, some Republicans have been floating Grabauskas’s name as a future statewide GOP candidate.
“I’ve known Dan Grabauskas for years,’’ Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charles D. Baker posted yesterday on his Twitter account. “We need more public servants & tough minded managers like him. Firing him is a mistake.’’
Related: Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man....
Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, both of whom offered earlier praise for Grabauskas, declined to comment yesterday. But other top lawmakers were angered over the size of the settlement, which comes at a time of severe budget cutbacks.
“It’s financially irresponsible,’’ said Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “If you have good cause, fire the guy. If you don’t, let him serve out his time and earn his money. For the taxpayers and toll payers to have to foot this bill is just totally irresponsible.’’
Change that letter to R, will ya?
House Republicans released a statement yesterday defending Grabauskas, calling him “more qualified to run the MBTA than any hack the Patrick/Aloisi team could dig up.’’
“The whole episode was a disgrace; they should be ashamed of themselves,’’ said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei, a Wakefield Republican for whom Grabauskas worked in the early 1990s. “For someone who wanted to get rid of people’s cynicism about government, I can’t think of an episode that would make people more cynical than the way Secretary Aloisi and his minions have conducted themselves over the last few weeks.’’
Patrick declined to comment....
Isn't that last bit perfect! Proves what the local Repub said!
The general manager position will be filled temporarily by William Mitchell, the agency’s general counsel, who has been the source of controversy in the past.
Patrick sure can pick 'em, huh?
In 2000, Kevin J. Sullivan, then the transportation secretary, called for Mitchell’s resignation after learning that Mitchell had stayed free-of-charge at a Florida condominium during the 1999 Super Bowl compliments of a convicted racketeer and admitted arsonist.
Oooooops! And THESE S***TERS are MORALIZING to ME?
Mitchell told Sullivan at the time that he was unaware that the man, Francis K. Fraine, had provided the accommodations and said the trip was arranged by someone else.
Yup. How do you know a politician is lying? Lips are movin'.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said yesterday that “Mitchell was completely exonerated’’ after a former federal prosecutor was brought in to investigate the allegations.
Translation: It was covered up.
Grabauskas’s resignation is the third departure of a high-ranking transportation official in eight months, a startling turnover rate during a crucial period in which Patrick has sought to repair the state’s crumbling transportation network and overhaul its bureaucracy.
Alan LeBovidge resigned as Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chief in May, following criticism over lengthy turnpike backups Easter Sunday. Bernard Cohen resigned as transportation secretary in December after administration officials grew frustrated with his political and communication skills.
Related: Turnpike Director Takes Exit
Patrick to Hide Pit Costs in His PantsSo that's how you got the Aloisi jerk back, 'eh, Masser?
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I'd say think about this as you stare out the window of our morning commute, readers: Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man....
"T shelves plan to lease billboards; Tepid ad response, outcry spur move" by Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent | August 2, 2009
The MBTA has retreated from its plan to raise millions of dollars by leasing 32 large billboards on land it owns in 19 Eastern Massachusetts communities after a disappointing response from prospective advertisers and a growing outcry from unwilling host communities....
Related: Totalitarian T
A Quiet Ride on Massachusetts' Transportation Reform Train
They blaming him for that, too?
I notice the Globe OMITTED the ROMNEY CONNECTION way back when!
WTF, Globe?
The MBTA already has more than 200 billboards, which bring in about $3 million a year. But the transportation agency, with $8 billion in debt and interest payments, hoped to boost revenue with the additional venues, ranging from about $47,000 to $280,000 individually annually, for 20 years. The T has also proposed fare increases estimated to yield another about $69 million annually....
Hey, then take a bike around Bost...., never mind.
Mayor Tom Koch of Quincy said it is frustrating to be trying to improve the quality of life in his city and then be faced with the MBTA billboard proposal he found out about only by reading the newspaper.
That's how great liberal government is and how in touch with the people they are.
Oh, yeah, sorry, sig heil.
Residents are already at the mercy of a 60-foot billboard erected in 2008 that looms over Interstate 93, he said. “It’s one thing to look at it from the highway, but another thing entirely from the neighborhood behind it,’’ he said. “How are you supposed to sell your house?’’
Whose buying now?
And some in the advertising industry say there couldn’t have been a worse time or economic climate in which to float such a plan, as major advertisers that usually bid on public projects are struggling like most businesses....
That is OUR TONE DEAF STATEGOVERNMENT all right!
Communities are especially concerned because they have little voice in the matter because of a year-old Supreme Judicial Court decision that allows the MBTA to ignore local zoning laws in placing the billboards....
Can't even turn to the courts in 'liberal" Massachusetts!
HOME RULE, and the MORE LOCAL the BETTER!!!
It STARTS at the PROPERTY LINE!!!!!!!!!
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Related: Why Massachusetts Needs Republicans
Of course, you are PAYING MORE for the RIDE!!!!
T officials blame much of the authority’s financial woes on its $5.2 billion debt, the highest of any transit agency in the nation. Much of that debt comes from Big Dig projects, as well as the T’s own capital projects and maintenance....
Okay, is it $8 billion or &5.2 billion?
Pfft!
CAN'T even get the NUMBERS RIGHT, you agenda-pushing sack of sh**...... ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“In times like this, who can afford to pay someone else’s bills? I can’t. Can you?’’
Then why are we sending BILLIONS to ISRAEL?
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I guess it's better than driving in, Bostonian:
“.... the minority is paying for the majority to use the system for free. That is unfair, unconstitutional, inequitable, and wrong.’’Welcome to Massachushitts, bub!
The lawsuit asserts that 58 percent of Massachusetts Turnpike tolls are used to cover maintenance, operating, and debt costs related to the $15 billion Big Dig. The lawsuit, which is being supported by former Democratic state attorney general Scott Harshbarger and Daniel B. Winslow, the chief legal counsel to former Republican governor Mitt Romney, includes more than 1,500 plaintiffs, many of whom commute from the west and the North Shore and feel that they have unfairly borne the brunt of Big Dig costs.
That's BIPARTISAN, isn't it?
The lawyers have called for the Legislature to pass a law requiring that the turnpike’s tolls be used for maintenance, capital expenditures, and operating expenses of the road on which they are collected. If the plaintiffs win, the lawyers have said, the state would probably have to choose between raising taxes, imposing tolls on Interstate 93, or requiring the Turnpike Authority to sell some of its real estate.
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Here is the WHAT, WHY, and WHO which the toll increases are intended to pay for. Glad I live far away from your "fair" city.
FLASHBACK:
Massachusetts residents got a shock when state officials, at the peak of construction on the Big Dig project, disclosed that the price tag had ballooned to nearly $15 billion. But that, it turns out, was just the beginning.
Now, three years after the official dedication of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel, the state is reeling under a legacy of debt left by the massive project. In all, the project will cost an additional $7 billion in interest, bringing the total to a staggering $22 billion, according to a Globe review of hundreds of pages of state documents. It will not be paid off until 2038.
Contrary to the popular belief that this was a project heavily subsidized by the federal government, 73 percent of construction costs were paid by Massachusetts drivers and taxpayers. To meet that obligation, the state's annual payments will be nearly as much over the next several years, $600 million or more, as they were in the heaviest construction period.
So all the promises, etc, once more turned out to be lies!
Big Dig payments have already sucked maintenance and repair money away from deteriorating roads and bridges across the state, forcing the state to float more highway bonds and to go even deeper into the hole.
No wonder the roads are so shitty around here!
We ARE fucked here in Massachusetts, ladies and gentlemen!
Among other signs of financial trouble: The state is paying almost 80 percent of its highway workers with borrowed money; the crushing costs of debt have pushed the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which manages the Big Dig, to the brink of insolvency; and Massachusetts spends a higher percentage of its highway budget on debt than any other state.
The scope of the debt has not previously been calculated, much less publicly disclosed, by the state's political leaders, including Governor Deval Patrick and his senior transportation officials. The Globe confirmed its calculations in interviews with the state's financial analysts.
The debt is a big part of why Massachusetts had the highest tax-supported debt per capita in the United States last year. Most of the Big Dig borrowing occurred when cost overruns on the tunnel network skyrocketed in the late 1990s and state officials scrambled to keep the partially completed project afloat.
The impact of the debt can be seen in some frustrating and alarming ways. During the last three years, Massachusetts spent the most of any state, by far, 38 percent of its highway budget, on debt payments, according to Globe analysis of federal data. The median is less than 6 percent nationally.
The state has also been forced to meet payroll demands for 1,400 Massachusetts Highway Department workers with borrowed money because it does not have enough cash to pay them.
So what? The governor is eating just fine, thank you!
Meanwhile, this government is handing out scads of $$$$ to favored friends like at rich Hollywood folk, Wall Street, corporate and lottery favorites while the governor PARTIES DOWN?
That means that painters and clerical workers paid around $18 an hour cost the state $28.80 an hour. The 80 percent of the workforce being paid with borrowed money compares to 14 percent before the Big Dig work began. Across the state, commuters are suffering daily for the massive shortfalls that have led to closings and stalled projects.
From the start, the Big Dig was supposed to be paid for jointly by the federal and state governments. When the project was unveiled in the early 1980s, Massachusetts residents were told by transportation officials that the federal government would pick up 90 percent of the cost.
How's it feel to get a royal fucking, Massachusetts taxpayer?
Are you happy with the LIES GOVERNMENT TOLD you to the tune of a $22 BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE?!
I mean, they didn't even build it well; didn't a tile fall off in one of the tunnels because of WATER LEAKS?
As costs mounted over the next two decades, it was the state's responsibility to make up the difference. Ultimately, the federal government paid just 27 percent of the construction costs, or about $4 billion. As a result, the Globe analysis of state and federal data shows, state taxpayers and toll-payers are responsible for a staggering $18 billion of the total $22 billion in construction and debt costs.
How does that reamed butt-hole feel, taxpayers?
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which was brought in to oversee the Big Dig construction in 1996 as part of a financial rescue plan, borrowed $1.8 billion, but will have to pay back almost $5 billion, including interest. Its borrowing was so expensive because it was financed over 40 years, twice as long as the vast majority of government debt, with no principal due for the first 10 years.
It is now unable to keep up with its share of the state's debt payments and is in desperate need of a bailout.
And GUESS WHO is going to be forking over the dough?
The Turnpike Authority raised tolls last year, but will need to raise them again and again to stay afloat. It may even add tolls. Quantifying the amount of money that was diverted to the Big Dig from statewide road and bridge repair and construction programs is difficult. A Globe analysis of data maintained by the Federal Highway Administration shows spending for state roads and bridges lagged behind other states. If Massachusetts had kept pace, it would have spent an additional $851 million.
"The Big Dig drained funding away," Bernard Cohen, secretary of transportation said. "I can't tell you exactly how much, but it's been in the billions of dollars."
There are two sources of state highway funds: state borrowing and reimbursement to the state on federal gasoline taxes collected in Massachusetts. The Big Dig, which makes up 7.5 miles of an 11,000-mile system, gobbled up about 40 percent of those funds during the last 17 years, data show.
So far, the answer adopted by Governor Deval Patrick and his administration is a familiar one: Borrow more money to meet current transportation needs.
The guy is going to BANKRUPT THIS STATE while he throws LAVISH LUNCHES and EVADES CAMPAIGN LAWS!
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said it simply avoids the nasty reality by borrowing deeper and longer into future:
"They are not addressing the situation, they are just shifting billions of dollars of debt to future generations. Nobody wants to be the one to increase taxes, but without taxes, it means the next generation will face a deep hole."
And PAYING OFF DEBT INTEREST to BANKS is MORE IMPORTANT than ANYTHING!
And about that Big Pit.
Here is what you PAID FOR and are STILL PAYING FOR, WILL BE PAYING FOR FOREVER, and WHY your TAXES were RAISED....
"4 found guilty in Big Dig fraud; Prosecutors say cement deliveries were substandard" by Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent | August 5, 2009
Four former managers for Aggregate Industries NE Inc., which provided 135,000 truckloads of concrete for the Big Dig, have been convicted in federal court of conspiring to defraud the government by delivering substandard concrete, according to acting US Attorney Michael K. Loucks.
I thought you might like to know someone DIED because of all this: The Price of a Massachusetts Life
Keep that in mind for later (corporate and state murder means nothing in Massachusetts)
Two other former managers pleaded guilty to related charges last month. The six men were indicted in 2006 on charges they delivered more than 5,000 truckloads of concrete that was more than 90-minutes old and had begun to harden, concrete that had extra water added, and concrete that did not match Big Dig project specifications, according to a statement issued by Loucks....
To prevent officials from learning that the altered concrete did not meet specifications, the men produced false batch reports that Big Dig officials used to determine the quality of the concrete and to track how much was used, prosecutors said....
Prosperi referred a Globe reporter who called his house to his lawyer, who did not return a call seeking comment. Messages left for Stevenson and Farrar were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at Blais’s house hung up on a Globe reporter....
I wouldn't talk to them, either; however, why do we need reporters and newspapers when their only claim over bloggers is they have access and can command a response? Apparently not, no comment.
Then again, if your job is REALLY to push an AGENDA!!!!
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At that time, Attorney General Martha Coakley said $27 million of the settlement would be used to pay for future maintenance and repairs to Big Dig roads and tunnels. The agreement allowed the company, which was paid $105 million for its Big Dig work, to continue to receive government contracts.
Message to citzenry: It is OKAY to LIE and KILL in the name of LOOTING -- and you can GET AWAY WITH IT here in Massa-you-know-what!!!!
This year, the state awarded Aggregate $4.2 million in stimulus money to resurface Route 2 between Littleton and Harvard.
Told you that $$$ was being STOLEN!!!!!!
In a statement released yesterday, the company said it had cooperated with prosecutors and was disappointed by the verdict....
The UNREPENTANT and UNAPOLOGETIC GREED THRIVES In Massachu***ts, doesn't it?
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Oh, MY STOP, readers.
See you on the next car....
:-)
