Category — Deval Patrick

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?

MEFA is a quasi-state agency offering student loans at discounted rates.  Last week it announced that some 40,000+ students would have to seek funding elsewhere.  Credit market turbulence closed its traditional funding sources.  But never fear because Deval Patrick has a plan.

Obama Jr. proposes having the state pension fund and large university endowments, ahem Harvard, pick up some of the bonds.  Enter Tim Cahill.  Our chief money man says investing for social returns sets a bad precedent.  He correctly notes that pension fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to seek the best returns, not feel good returns.

But guess who Treasurer Tim thinks can pick up the $450 million dollar guarantee?  That’s right—it’s you and me.  The investment isn’t good enough for the state pension system, but nobody cares about the taxpayers, so it’s plenty good enough for us.  Now that Patrick has Cahill’s suggestion as top cover, probably the whole point behind this exercise anyway, our spendthrift governor is sure to push a bill through quickly.

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.

Here’s a group of bright bulbs, eh?

A group of teenage girls made a solemn pact - not to be friends forever, go to the prom together or try out for a sports team.

They agreed to get pregnant. And they kept their promise.

Seventeen girls at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts are expecting babies, Time.com first reported.

None of the mothers-to-be, who are planning to raise their babies together, are over age 16. One of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless man.

My first reaction was they’ll learn soon enough about the consequences of stupid decisions.  But then I thought about it and that’s not true.  Because the fact is we’ll suffer the consequences.  We’ll pay their rent.  Buy their clothes.  Feed them.  Give them free healthcare.  Finance some form of education for the mother.  And more than likely, we’ll keep paying for the next generation who are much more likely to become welfare wards too.

And all the while, big government types will tell those of us who work, pay taxes, and take care of our families why they need more and more of our money.  This is why Deval can’t give us tax relief.  He has to take care of all the people who need reminders to keep breathing.

Yes, we’re all fathers-to-be and mothers-to-be, but I don’t feel much like celebrating.  How about you?

Who knew MA had an extra billion to throw away on corporate welfare?  I guess it’s just property tax relief the governor and legislature can’t find money for.

Nobody I know likes Deval Patrick, but his twin brother Barack Obama leads McCain by 13 points in the Bay State. So if a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, I guess that means a moonbat is a liberal who likes being mugged.

A question to everyone who voted for Deval Patrick looking for “change”:

Can you name even one example of positive change since he took office?

While I am awaiting your response, here is yet another negative change to add to the list:

Despite a slumping economy and looming budget crunch, Gov. Deval Patrick has hiked his office budget by an astonishing 80 percent, adding questionable new staff positions like “director of grassroots governance” and pumping millions into an extravagant “civic engagement” program.

“We know the governor had a goal of creating 100,000 new jobs in his first term, we just didn’t know he was going to create them all in the Corner Office,” said Sen. Michael Knapik (R-Westfield).

Added State Sen. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham): “People in my district are asking, ‘What is this guy doing?’ They get 1 to 2 percent increases for their schools, and he gets almost 80 percent? How do you explain that?”

Patrick’s office budget has skyrocketed to $9 million this fiscal year, a boost of nearly $4 million from fiscal 2007, Republican lawmakers said. Much of the increase is due to a $3 million appropriation for Patrick’s new Commonwealth Corps, a volunteerism program aimed at promoting “civic engagement” across the state.

Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll get around to lowering those property taxes eventually.

Together We Can … Increase Deval’s office budget by 80 % while the average citizen gets A 2% salary increase if they are lucky.

Massachusetts voters wanted change, and now they are going to get it.

What’s that? You thought you were going to get lower property taxes? Not quite, but how about we free some convicted murderers as a consolation prize!

Howie Carr has the story (HT: Deval Patrick Watch):

The Parole Board is open Under New Management - liberal bleeding-heart management.

This is splendid news for stone killers and rapists, bad news for everybody else.

This week we got the first of what will no doubt be a long line of murderers being cut loose: Karter Reed, who wept at his Parole Board hearing in March. Of course Killer Karter wasn’t crying at Dartmouth High School back in 1993, when he fatally stabbed a teenager he didn’t even know, laughing and jeering as his victim lay dying on the classroom floor. Even Deval’s Parole Board had to stipulate that.

“The Parole Board does acknowledge this tragic senseless loss of a young and innocent victim but . . . ”

But we’re liberals, and it’s our $90,000-a-year job to fling open the prison doors for murderers. For 16 years, these horrid Republicans would never release any of these poor young men who’ve been turning their lives around, and now it’s payback time.

The vote to let Killer Karter go was 4-3. It was close only because the Parole Board still includes some holdovers not appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick, that great benefactor of rapists. Next year the votes will be 5-2, then 6-1.

“Mr. Reed was incarcerated at a very young and susceptible age,” the limousine liberals wrote. But not to worry, Killer Karter has rehabilitated himself. Here are some of the prison programs he availed himself of: Alternatives to Violence, Training for Trainers, Training for Facilitators and Welcome Diversity, Anger Management, Toastmasters and, my favorite, Barber School.

Together We Can … empty the prisons!

We can expect more of this type of “Change” if Obama wins in November too! The only difference is that it will be terrorists being set free by him.

Oh well, you can’t say we didn’t warn you Massachusetts:

• Together We Can… Put Rapists Back on the Street
• The Gift That Keeps On Giving
• “Free ‘em all” Deval sort of apologizes for his Benjamin LaGuer missteps
• Dukakis Defends “Free ‘em all” Deval
• The Gift That Keeps On Giving - Part 2

Does Barack Obama know that Deval Patrick can’t walk and chew gum at the same time? Deval’s assignment to Vote for Change, a voter fraud registration drive, with intellectual heavy weights like Usher and Melissa Ethridge seems like a good indication that he might not be in the inner circle.

The casino debacle keeps getting worse for Governor Deval Patrick. The governor wasn’t even in the state let alone on Beacon Hill as the centerpiece of his economic development plan was being debated and voted on. With no visible leadership from the governor, Speaker DiMasi easily defeated the proposal.

What is interesting, and I’d argue becoming a pattern for this governor, was the reason for his absence—personal gain. The governor was in New York negotiating a book deal instead of leading his own key initiative. But that’s not surprising when you consider that in the months preceding the vote, he campaigned for Barack Obama and an eventual cabinet post for himself a lot more than he campaigned on Beacon Hill for his casino bill.

The governor’s failure, his campaign promises are nowhere near reality, was certainly predictable. Patrick is a dreamer. He all but screamed it with talk of “change” and campaign slogans like “Yes, we can”. Dreamers paint towering visions in the mind, but rarely put brush strokes on canvas.

And speaking of dreamers, the Patrick experience in Massachusetts is what fellow dreamer Barack Obama will deliver on the national level too. Dreamers don’t roll up their sleeves and get things done, which explains why Obama’s resume is devoid of actual accomplishments outside of being elected.

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.

A year is a lifetime in political terms.  For example, a little over a year ago, Democrats were explaining why having a Democrat in the corner office was a must.  Our woes would vanish once a Democratic governor could collaborate with the legislature.  But in a rare honest moment, might Beacon Hill admit to wishing Kerry Healey had won the election:

“It seems like we have a proposal where no tough questions were even asked — let alone answered,” DiMasi said. “The Governor clearly has the burden of convincing the Legislature that this casino plan should be adopted. So far, the case has not been made, the evidence isn’t there and the Governor’s arguments for casinos are clearly losing credibility.” 

I’m with DiMasi on casinos.  Their economic benefit is overblown when you compare the revenue to expected infrastructure and service outlays.  Now, if the state wasn’t subsidizing their construction, I’d have no problem supporting them.  If adults want to gamble, so be it.  Just don’t use my tax dollars to fund these private enterprises.

Deval Patrick brought in a real gem for the Department of Corrections. Harold W. Clarke thinks Massachusetts’ system is too “tough”:

“We got tough and what have we gotten for that? Do we feel any safer?” asked Clarke, who began on Nov. 26, 2007, after years at the helm of prison systems in Nebraska and Washington state. “Rates of recidivism are climbing. We are going in the wrong direction and this is getting worse.”

Mr. Clarke and I obviously share a different definition of tough. I don’t call Judge Moses releasing his 3^rd recidivist sex offender tough. Or perhaps Mr. Clarke thinks the 10s of thousands of wasted tax dollars spent on a convicted murderer’s sex change treatments is our justice system being unmerciful.

If this is “tough”, the Clarke “improvements” will be absolutely frightening. We can all sleep sounder now knowing a moonbat who thinks society failed the criminals is running corrections.

What is it with Massachusetts judges and sex offenders? It’s almost like they’ve never met one they didn’t like:

The Supreme Judicial Court has reversed a decision by Judge Ernest B. Murphy, who found an accused child molester not guilty after the alleged young victim went to the wrong courtroom and waited there for several hours, missing the start of the trial.

The SJC ruled Murphy “improperly entered” the not guilty finding last March before evidence and opening statements were presented.

Wow! Innocent because the victim waited in the wrong courtroom? That’s like a bad joke. But not to be outdone, Judge Moses releases yet another sexual deviant with a long rap sheet:

The serial sex fiend busted for allegedly stalking a woman in a Braintree bookstore bathroom left a trail of escalating depravity encompassing nearly a dozen incidents over seven years, including a violent attempted rape.

Judge Richard T. Moses knew twisted sex freak David Flavell’s history of arrests from New Hampshire to Fairhaven when he set free the Level 3 offender in 2006, ruling he posed no danger to the public, according to court filings obtained by the Herald.

I’d say blow up the judiciary and start over, but with Deval Patrick appointing them, it’d just be worse.