Central MA Transportation

Thursday, January 03, 2008

I misjudged our new governor

During last years gubernatorial election I had Deval Patrick pegged as just another tax and spend liberal Democrat, different only in that he had a very upbeat message. What was his campaign slogan, Together we can?

Well I was wrong. Patrick is more than a tax and spend liberal, he's a BORROW tax and spend liberal. In his first year in office Patrick has proposed 1.3 Billion for a new commuter rail line to New Bedford, more than 1 Billion for stem cell research, and more recently 2.9 Billion for transportation projects that include $75 Million (to be matched by Federal Grant) for the Fitchburg commuter rail line. Patrick has proposed borrowing over 5 Billion to bankroll these proposals. I'm sure some of the proposed spending makes sense but most of it isn't justified.

Is there any way to keep the state from wasting our tax dollars? Short of keeping our money out of the state's hands in the first place, probably not, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. It looks like we'll have the opportunity (even if it's only a symbolic gesture) this November by voting to repeal the income tax. What's our governor think about that? He thinks it's "just a dumb idea". I respectfully disagree, if you're tired of waste in state government it makes perfect sense to keep your money out of their hands. It would be dumb
  • if you let the governor fool you with statements like this, “Civilization costs something,” he said. “If we could have something for nothing, which is the fiction that has been sold by the right for some time now, then we wouldn’t have a $19 billion upkeep backlog for the roads and bridges.”

    How could the right, conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians be responsible for a $19 Billion backlog in funding for roads and bridges. Liberals and the Democrats have controlled both chambers of the state legislature since as far back as I can remember, and they've had a veto proof majority since Bill Weld gave state senator Mary Pedula a post in his administration.

  • voting to repeal the income tax in November and then sending the same liberal Democrat Senators and Representatives back to Boston to ignore the referendum just like they did the vote to roll back the income tax to 5%.
  • to continue to vote for politicians because their message is upbeat and they promise change despite offering few if any details of their plans for the future. Sound familiar?
In 2002 when the income tax referendum was on the ballot 40% voted for it and 12% of the ballots were blank. Clearly it's a possibility. Let's get behind the repeal and let's send every state rep and state senator that doesn't pledge to follow through with the voter's wishes packing.

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