In an effort to make himself the education governor, Deval Patrick is proposing an additional $368 million dollars in spending today.  The teachers’ unions must be grinning ear to ear as the millions invested in Patrick’s campaign come back to them 100 fold in the form of our taxes.  But I seriously doubt this proposal is driven by Governor Patrick’s desire to educate the children.

In fact, my guess is you can throw out the majority of his proposals.  He’s not the education governor, or the transportation governor, or the life sciences governor.  He’s the casino governor because there are only 2 logical explanations for the governor’s spending orgy in the midst of a $1.3 billion dollar deficit.  He’s deranged, or he’s throwing all these proposals against the wall to pressure the legislature into action on the casino issue. 

The smart money says the governor has Casino Derangement Syndrome (CDR).  God only knows why.  Even if you use his revenue numbers, they don’t come anywhere near filling the spending gap he’s proposing by throwing everything from beach cleaning equipment to billions for transportation against the wall.

Archived in: Deficits, Deval Patrick, Education, Massachusetts, Taxes, Unions