Where in the World is Governor Patrick?

Candidate Deval Patrick made some big promises when running for Governor, but Governor Patrick doesn’t seem to be following through on many of them. In fact, not only has the Governor fallen short on property tax relief and reforming how business is done on Beacon Hill, he seems to have forgotten that being Governor actually entails showing up occasionally.

According to an article in today’s Boston Globe, the Governor and his staff seem to think making an occasional phone call while tucked away at his estate in the Berkshires counts as a day of work. How about all of that campaigning he did for President Barack Obama? His staff says “Trips on behalf of Obama benefit the state.” Or, what about the book he is currently penning? Don’t worry, he’s only doing that at night and on weekends! Being Governor is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year commitment. While we understand even he needs a vacation every now and then, 6 weeks of vacation time in his first 2 years of Governor hardly seems reasonable. Most workers in the private sector are lucky to have 2 weeks vacation allotted to them!

Click here to read the full article.

Jones Appears on Fox News Channel

House Minority Leader Brad Jones appeared on a number of Fox News programs in recent days as outrage over the car ownership program continues. The program has been the target of much scrutiny since the Boston Herald's Hillary Chabot reported that funding had been increased to a program that provides cars to welfare recipients.

Click here to see Jones' appearance on Your World w/Neil Cavuto. Filling in for Cavuto is Fox Business Channel's Brian Sullivan.

Republican Idea Rejected, Boston Herald Praises It

During the House budget debate, Republican lawmakers offered an amendment that would have expedited the sale of state surplus land, transferring the revenues from such transactions to the general fund. A similar effort back in 2005 yielded significant revenues to the Commonwealth.

To no surprise, that amendment was overwhelmingly shot down. However, today the Boston Herald editorial page praised the idea.

Click here to read the full article.

Outrage Reaches California

A radio station in San Diego, California reached out to House Republicans yesterday to respond to the car ownership program. The producer at the Rick Roberts Show saw the story on Drudge Report yesterday and asked Assistant Minority Leader George Peterson to come on the show.

Peterson will be on the Rick Roberts Show at 8am eastern time today.

To here the live online broadcast, click here.

Jones to Discuss Car Ownership Program on Finneran

An article in yesterday's Boston Herald exposed a $400,000 state program that provides cars to welfare recipients. Well, the outrage and reaction to that program has been non-stop since yesterday morning.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones will be appearing on the Finneran show on WRKO at 7:30 this morning to discuss the controversial program.

Click here to listen to the broadcast live online or tune into AM680 if you're near a radio.

Governor Exposes Misplaced Priorities Again

Governor Patrick continues to expose his administration's extremely misplaced priorities. According to an article in today's Boston Herald, Governor Patrick recently boosted the funding for a program that provides free cars to welfare recipients, this despite a more than $900 million budget shortfall that needs to be closed by the end of June.

Click here to read the full article.

Majority Ignores Fiscal Reality While Passing Budget

State House News Service is reporting that, “state tax collections are expected to reach $17.989 billion next fiscal year.” The article goes onto say "the downgrade is nearly 8 percent and more than $1.5 billion below the original $19.53 billion fiscal 2010 estimate that Gov. Deval Patrick and the House used in their budget proposals.”

Today, House leaders defended the passing of last week’s budget, saying the exact revenue decline figures were not available at the time of debate.

While the exact numbers were not public knowledge last week, the direction and the severity of the revenue decline certainly was. Republican lawmakers proposed to postpone debate, knowing that the budget passed last week was dramatically out of balance and unsustainable. The entire Republican caucus voted against the budget, and the new revenue numbers released today underscore the reason why.

Cost Saving Measures Looking Pretty Good Right Now

Last week, the Republican Caucus made a motion to postpone budget debates until after the new tax collection data had been released. We tried to recess until this week because as revenues continue to plummet, we knew the House's FY10 budget would not be sustainable.

The 2009 fiscal year comes to an end on the last day of June. And because of last month's revenue shortfall, the state is now grappling to close a $900 million budget deficit. This budget gap underscores just how off base next year's revenues estimates are. The economic circumstances we are facing as a state are unlike any we have ever seen before. Revenues decline significantly every month, while the spending on Beacon Hill continues to grow.

Last week, we offered a number of amendments that could have save upwards of $320 million. Of all of the cost saving measures we offered, the House rejected a total savings of $270 million.

Here is a list of the amendments we offered that could have provided real cost savings for the state:

1. Shift all MassHealth members to managed care plans, rather than the MassHealth fee-for-service program and primary car clinician plan. Savings: $160M-$200M

2. Change the Pacheco Law threshold from $200K to $5M. Savings: $20M-30M

3. Provide the rules and regulations for the state to expedite the sale of surplus land, transferring the revenues from such transactions to the general fund.
Savings: $10M-$15M

4. Eliminate the Governor's Washington, DC office entirely. Savings: $403,430

While these cost saving measures may seem small, in a time of economic crisis, every little bit helps, and we would hard call $270 million little. The taxpayers deserve better. We should be going through every single line item and cutting whatever is not absolutely necessary. The House has passed transportation and pension reform bills, both of which have provisions that could save the Commonwealth millions of dollars. We need to get those reforms into place and then re-examine where our state is financially. The Governor and the Democratic-controlled legislature have convinced many that the only way out of this crisis is to raise your taxes. We however, believe cutting waste, reducing spending and tightening our belts are the principles we should be living by while navigating through these extremely tough economic times. The state’s rainy day fund has been tapped three times already during this recession. While yes, it is raining, it likely that we will need to rely on this fund and the monies coming through the federal stimulus package during the next two fiscal years.

Perry: “What part of illegal don’t you understand…?”

Today, Representative Jeffrey Davis Perry (R-Sandwich) forced an Amendment Relative to Public Benefits onto the floor of the House of Representatives. After a 3-hour debate, Perry demanded a vote on an attempt to place the amendment into a “study.” Upon the conclusion of the debate, 40 members voted “No” indicating their support for Perry’s amendment to limit benefits for illegal immigrants, 116 voted yes and thus Perry’s Amendment failed.

This legislation would have established a system of comprehensive regulations restricting public benefits for non-residents of the Commonwealth. Mirrored after legislation which passed in both Colorado and Georgia, this measure would have ensured that taxpayer funded benefits go only to those that are eligible to receive them. The Amendment to the 2010 State Budget would demand that anyone attempting to receive taxpayer funded public benefits must first be verified by the Federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement program “SAVE.”

“There is no doubt that this is a Federal issue; however, since our elected officials in Washington, D.C. have failed to successfully address this issue, states like Massachusetts have no other real choice but to attempt to deal with the increasing burden these illegal immigrants are placing on our health care providers, criminal justice system, educational faculties and employers who are following the rules. In an effort to reduce the number of illegals coming to Massachusetts, I filed this amendment to ensure only legal residents of Massachusetts gain access to state benefits” said Representative Perry from the State House.

The Amendment includes exemptions from this process for those under the age of 18 and in disaster situations where state benefits must be accessed in an expeditious manner.

“I am extremely disappointed that only after a few days of raising the state’s sales tax by some $900,000,000, the majority of legislators voted not to restrict public benefits to only legal residents. With so many citizens waiting in line for benefits and the state often saying we do not have enough money, I am at a loss why some find it acceptable for tax-payer money to go to illegal immigrants” Perry said.

And the Patronage Continues

Governor Patrick's job approval ratings are plummeting, he is in an all out war with the Legislature over which taxes to raise, and yet he still finds the time to hand out plum positions to political pals.

According to an article in today's Boston Herald, three state posts were recently filled by friends of Patrick for a grand total of $253,000. Seems a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Our state is facing the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression, the House just adopted an amendment to raise the state's sales tax at a cost of $900 million to taxpayers and the Governor wants you to pay an extra 19 cents for a gallon of gas. Couldn't that $253,000 be better spent elsewhere?