Category — Beacon Hill

If you’re a regular reader, you’ve read about the state’s spendthrift ways right here for years.  Well, the chickens finally came home to roost:

The Patrick administration is working behind the scenes to trim its own spending. Budget chief Leslie Kirwan called the national crisis “unprecedented,” and said the governor is preparing for the worst.

I hope Ms. Kirwan isn’t implying that the subprime mortgage fiasco pushed the state over the edge because she has been sounding the alarm bell on Beacon Hill for quite some time now.  Besides, everybody knew they were spending way more than they were bringing in as evidenced by their use of the “rainy day” fund to balance the budget.

The real problem on Beacon Hill isn’t projections or financial meltdowns; it was lack of restraint and fiscal responsibility.  Everybody knew they were living on the edge, but nobody was willing to make any hard decisions.  So, now we’ll go through a fire drill where our solons threaten to cut all the teachers, firefighters, and cops in an effort to scare up a tax increase.  Nobody will look at Patrick’s biotech payoff, his infrastructure funds, or other spending shenanigans.

Things in this state are so predictable.

BTW:  Why did the Herald use a picture of the president in an article about state spending cuts?  Let’s have a big smiling picture of Deval and some office drapes.  That’d be a lot more appropriate.

Here’s a surprise—Governor Patrick says tax increases are on the table.  Looking at his massive new programs, fiscal restraint certainly never was.  His spending spree is all the more embarrassing given everyone knew the slowing economy meant tax revenues would be shrinking this year.  Yet the governor didn’t have the stomach to make any hard decisions when it came to spending priorities.

Ultimately, this probably matters very little to him.  If Barack is elected in November, he’ll be picking new curtains and desks for his DC office anyway.  Why not raise taxes on your way out the door when you won’t be around to feel the voter backlash?

Governor Patrick and his Beacon Hill cronies were all grins last week.  They repealed the 1913 law that kept out-of-state gay couples from marrying here.  The governor says it’s a blow for equality, but this Globe editorial quickly points out that our solons are looking for some gay marriage “windfall” profits too.

The combination of the 1913 law and recent California decision enabling gay marriage were going to cost the state economically.  But happy days are here again because now the state can look forward to an estimated $111 million over the next 3 years.

Nothing gets Beacon Hill moving like a new opportunity to fleece the people.

You have to hand it to the MA state legislature.  The boys and girls on Beacon Hill have their finger on the pulse of critical issues affecting the electorate.  Praise be that pet rentals are now outlawed in the Commonwealth.  Let’s celebrate with another round of business killing, job slowing “loophole” closures, so more people can move out of state.

MA has a Democratic governor, but you wouldn’t know that by the enmity between the corner office and Beacon Hill. In fact, except for party affiliation and bank account size, Deval Patrick and Mitt Romney are sharing eerily similar terms as governor. Romney spent a lot of time out of state campaigning for president when it became apparent the legislature ran the state. Deval Patrick spends his time out of state campaigning for Barack Obama, which might explain why his casino bill is getting deep-sixed.

Romney was a lame duck because there weren’t enough Republicans on Beacon Hill to sustain a veto. Patrick is a lame duck because he made the casino battle personal by trying to smear DiMassi. Romney’s singular accomplishment, if one could actually call socialized medicine an accomplishment, was handed to him because the legislature wanted it. Deval Patrick will also only get what the legislature wants him to because he’s only shown an ability to burn bridges and none at building them.

I’m betting an Obama administration cabinet post is looking awfully good to our Moonbat-in-chief just like being POTUS looked awfully good to Mitt Romney.

The state is at least $1.3 billion in the red.  But somehow our solons can find $400K to waste on a walking trail.  That’s right.  Haverhill is getting that tidy sum to convert an old rail bed into a walking trail.  Soon the Moonbat-in-chief (AKA Deval Patrick) with legislators in tow will be telling us how raising taxes is the only choice.  They’ve scoured the budget and cut everything to the bone.  There’s simply no waste anywhere, but don’t you believe it.  There are plenty of Haverhill walking trails in the budget.