Monday, October 30, 2006

Congratulations to Governor Patrick

He's up 25 points over Kerry Healey, has the endorsement of virtually every paper in the commonwealth, and has come through the reprehensible campaign run by the Lt. Governor and the Mass GOP with only a few scratches and bruises.

Meanwhile, he's run a decent campaign, focused on the positives, and watched the good citizens of the Bay State reject a campaign that used spurious character assassination as a way to divert attention away from a non-existent legislative record. Another blonde harpy in a twinset with a fetish for negative ads bites it. Let's hear it for Truth And Justice!

So what would a Patrick administration mean for us out here in the far-western frontier?

His support of the Cape Wind project may help streamline the wind project up on Florida Mountain. Like it or not, it appears the citizens of Florida, Savoy, Rowe, and Monroe are OK with it there, for the right reasons. It's good money for these folks: the developers are going to pay good commercial rate taxes on the land. There'll be some infrastructure improvements. And yes, there's a green energy, hippie-dippie component to the project that, while perhaps negligible in the great big scheme of things, is heading in the right direction.

Some local folks may end up in the Administration, giving them a chance to make a big statewide splash. Mr. Patrick has some well-qualified long-time supporters out in this part of the jungle, and hooray for patronage. Just try not to forget us little people when you head out to the big city. I recommend the Harvard Gardens, on Cambridge St. outside Charles Circle, for a quick drink and bite close to the State House.

Will our "taxes" go up? Hard to say. It's a bit of a politician's argument rather than actual dollar-based real world accounting. We pay all kinds of dough to all levels of government in sorts of forms. Property, income, sales, meals, excise taxes. RMV fees. Hunting and fishing and dog licenses. Professional licensures. Even the extra money they want to take wood to the dump (but that's another post entirely). Who's to say our taxes have gone down if we pay $30 less per year in property taxes but an extra $65 to register our car? Or if your income tax rate goes down to 5.1875% while it costs an extra $25 to renew your pipefitter ticket? Before anyone can realistically say "he's going to raise our taxes", keep in mind that no politician has really ever reduced the "size" of government to any appreciable degree, and somebody's gotta pay for it.

We may actually see some folks getting health care that need but can't afford it. Anyone can jiggle the numbers and talk about the $295 fine for not insuring workers and make it sound like politics, but the real issue is far more complicated. The basic philosophy of the Patrick administration seems to be "let's do what we can to help these folks", where the Romney attitude seems to have been "poor people should just shut up, get real jobs, and stop dragging down the economy by not wanting to die."

At least that's my take on it.

But it's all theoretical, and now as always, most of our lives change very little based on who's holding some political office somewhere. The translation into legislation of the conservative attitude of government as a burden vs. the liberal attitude of government as a facilitator is what I'll be using as my barometer to measure the change in the political weather come next year. Electing Mr. Patrick could turn out to be the best thing Massachusettts has ever done, or it could be a high-priced ticket to insolvency. Neither extreme is likely, but at the very least, the change in the atmosphere is something to look forward to.

20 Comments:

At Mon Oct 30, 04:42:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate windmills----reason is they rape the landscaep for infinitesinmal value---- 2 1/2 percent of our electricty come from oil--- and all windmills do is produce electricity- when they are working- which is about 30% of the time---therefore the oft heard "foreing oil reliance" argument is bogus---- I'd rather see the federal subsidies and tax credits go to cleaning up coal---build some nukes---wind power is simply a "feel good"-- "I'm doing something for the environment" position------besides I don't believe that glodal warming-- which may or may not be actually happening is man made---when people say- worst winter- hottest summer SINCE--- Good grief it usually identifes the previous one as the 1930's-------half the world or more wasn't even industrialized then-- computer models??? as I have said before you could produce a computer model that would predict that the 2009 Kentucky Derby would be won by a duck-billed platypus-------aside from that- I will vote for him-- in spite of the fact that some of his positions are too leftist for me-- but Chris is correct about Muffy---she doesn;t know where we are- who we are- or does she care----to me Deval Patrick--- is the epitome of what Bill Cosby has been saying---that's good enough for me----chbpod

 
At Mon Oct 30, 05:18:00 PM EST, Blogger Ross said...

Whoa, Chris: Check out this link, where Patrick says he's in favor of in-state rates for tuition for illegals (reluctantly) and gives his justification for the drivers licenses.

chpbod: you'll be pleased to know Matt Kinnaman shares your philosophy on the wind project: "monstrous contraptions", he called mills at a debate in Pittsfield. And while you're completely right about oil-fired power plants (most are coal, gas, and hydro), my take is a whole lot less about the oil thing specifically than it is about the development this brings to the small towns up there. It's not hurting anybody. It's not costing taxpayers anything.

We could argue for days about the greenhouse gas deal, but even putting that argument aside, there's still a finite amount of cheaply accessible coal and gas. If we can use the supply to fire the plants for a few more days, and it costs nobody anything, and the town of Florida gets to hire a couple more teachers and a snowplow, isn't that worth it?

 
At Mon Oct 30, 05:44:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well- no Ross- and this is personal-- I kennel my dog at Best Friends Boarding that abuts the Florida site---- and I'll tell you if she comes home agitated -I'll know that all the negatives about wind plants is true----plus my access to the kennel will undoubtedly be disrupted when they start bringing in all of the equipment and trucks----that plus my doubts that wind power will have any positive effect--- chbpod

 
At Mon Oct 30, 06:31:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ross, who exactly do you think is headed into a potential patrick administration?

 
At Mon Oct 30, 10:40:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not to get off the thread, but this is the best gig in town right now.

CJT - "more nukes!!!!clean, efficient...jobs" ??? I guess you have to define "clean" and "efficient". If you believe CHBPOD's statistics on % of electricity how can one even consider nukes? If you compare the FULL cost of each energy source nukes, coal, and petroleum don't even come close to solar, wind, hydro, and hydrogen. Put the subsides, R&D, cost of byproducts, and cost of security that goes into nuclear and fossil fuels and the renewables would be dirt cheap and plentiful. AND if you use the electricity from the renewables to generate hydrogen you can also reduce the amount of oil that goes into transportation and heating. I'm all about diversified decentralized energy production.

 
At Mon Oct 30, 11:34:00 PM EST, Blogger Ross said...

Chris: my point was that he ain't giving away anything for free.

The thing with illegals: do you want to punish them by just making it harder to do one of the few things they can do to positively contribute to society?

You can't possibly think that not having a license is going to keep illegals off the roads. They can just get behind the wheel, unlicensed and untraceable, a menace to me, to my family, to my dog, to my neighbors.

Ideal? No, but neither is a nationwide citizenship dragnet setting up the "I'll give you 30 guys from Pittsfield who are fraudulently collecting disability checks for 12 cab drivers, 6 convenience store clerks, 3 guys who sweep up at the Jiffy Lube, and a couple guys who deliver Chinese food" scenario you half-jokingly propose...

 
At Mon Oct 30, 11:56:00 PM EST, Blogger Ross said...

winmurcran: I am obviously wildly speculating, but going through my mind when I wrote that were two names: Margie Ware and Sherwood Guernsey. These are two eminently qualified folks who have busted it in triplicate for Deval when he was still polling behind Tom Reilly.

Margie is a great fit for a gig at the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, for example. And Mr. Guernsey (a Dartmouth '68!) is an attorney with an impressive record of public sector experience who could go a lot of places at a pretty senior level.

What were you thinking, win?

 
At Tue Oct 31, 12:20:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would Dartmouth Class of 62 impress you??-- of course I have more couth than Marge Ware to put that on my resume---- Alpha Delta Phi---- "Animal House""----that's me-- chbpod

 
At Tue Oct 31, 09:04:00 AM EST, Blogger Andrew Etman said...

More political patronage...why can't the best qualified get a statehouse gig without having to go up against somebody who stumped for a candidate?

 
At Tue Oct 31, 09:52:00 AM EST, Blogger Ross said...

C: there's an old joke where the punchline is an old lady telling her son, "OK, by me, you're a captain. By you, you're a captain. But by captains, are you a captain?

When the Williams College alumni office says that they're OK with her association with the class of 1970, that's basically the captains saying that by them, she's a captain.

It's such a non-issue, anyway.

Andy: patronage works both ways. On the one hand, you have the "Yer doin a great job, Brownie" scenario that is a disappointment to everybody. On the other hand, think about it this way. Mr. Patrick has an entire staff and Cabinet he has to hire up for. What better way to get things up and running than to put the people you know and can work with into a job you know they're suited for?

I'm not suggesting that Margie would make a great Secretary of Transportation. I'm completely positive she'd make a great senior staffer at Elder Affairs, though.

I don't see "patronage" as a dirty word. Like a lot of things, it's in the way that you use it. Good patronage is putting a guy like Sherwood Guernsey on the Governor's Legal Counsel or Board of Bar Overseers; bad patronage is making me Secretary of...well, Anything...

 
At Tue Oct 31, 03:08:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

get your resumes out- Da Gov will be in town tomorrow------line forms???? Democrats to the left--- (Duh) and Republicans to the right------chbpod

 
At Tue Oct 31, 04:28:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where do the Minarchists line up?

 
At Tue Oct 31, 04:50:00 PM EST, Blogger Ross said...

Over there, next to Dennis and his anarcho-syndicalists.

 
At Tue Oct 31, 10:12:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ross, as long as the two lines are discernable.

 
At Tue Oct 31, 11:47:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ross,

guernsey is a good call; i am not so certain on ware.

i dont think sherwood would go in for a staff position at his age and stage. however, a seat on the judicial nominating commisssion, turnpike authority, something similar is plausible. being an attorney makes him a fit for lots of stuff that the other candidate you mentioned couldn't swing.

i dont know enough about what ware actually did for deval. i know being early to the party counts, but did she raise $$$? organize big time? i think she has a decent resume for staff position, but i'd be pretty shocked to see her at the secretary/commissioner/top deputy level.

 
At Wed Nov 01, 09:42:00 PM EST, Blogger Greg said...

Interesting speculation. Guernsey did his time. A seat on a commision sounds more likely. Ware? Elder services would be a good fit.

I've heard a rumor about Dan B. Seems unlikely, but.....

As to the agenda:

The Healthcare stuff is going to get very very messy as it is rolled out and hopefully it survives and evolves.

The employer mandates beyond the $295 are the killer. (i.e. Non insuring Employers can be forced to pick up tab for multiple claims totalling over $50k. This is a guarenteed way to cause elder discrimination.) The first business that claims that the new law put them out of business will make the front page of the Washington Post and set the cause of "healthcare for all" back by a decade.

 
At Thu Nov 02, 03:44:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ware is one of several mid-level staffers at elder services of the berkshires. she made a lot of hay out of coordinating one intitiative. it does not a top-level appointment make.

 
At Thu Nov 02, 07:29:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would Dartmouth Class of 62 impress you??

Only if you had graduated or had a damn good reason for transfering to UNH.

 
At Fri Nov 03, 12:52:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are correct anon---I'm not that impressed with myself either---and that's why Class of 1962- without having graduated is not a "title" I use-----although Marge Ware used Williams Class of 1972 -when she didn;t graduate---for the record---at Dartmouth we were on a trimester system and although I had a C plus average my freshman year-- ( I was also running X-country in the Fall- then winter and spring track)--I had mono and my grades tumbled first semester sophomore year--- such that- although not in danger of flunking out I was looking at losing my scholarship if I got a D in that second term--- and I was looking at a D in Calculus---so that I wouldn't put any financial burden on my parents- I withdrew from school-----Feb 1960----and then transfered to UNH that Fall---( in-state tuition was less than my parents share at Dartmouth was)where I graduated Class of 1963---
cum laude---your criticism is perfectly fair-----chbpod

 
At Sat Nov 04, 12:39:00 AM EST, Blogger Ross said...

Greg--interestingly, I heard another friend speculate about Dan B last night. Brought up a decent point about how he's at a point in his career where a 8-year appointment in the executive branch would come at a very good time. Wouldn't a special election make things fun around here for a few weeks?

 

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