(I don't think running someone for US Senate is wasting time, but thanks for this analysis. Some of us here on RMG are more interested in the "politics" side of things. Others are more interested in policy. Thank you as always for contributing by way of important policy discussions. - promoted by EaBo Clipper)
While some of you were wasting your time wondering what sacrificial lamb was going to run for U.S. Senate, Governor Patrick has quietly and ruthlessly put a gun to each and every one of our heads. Bet you didn't even notice it!
The Governor released his proposed budget last week, and in addition to all of the other spending initiatives, Deval Patrick added a new line item: "casino contingent lottery aid".
Yes, Spend-it-all-Deval gave Chapter 70 funds for public education a big fat raise (as partial repayment for the debt of the MTA spending millions in support of his candidacy for governor, no doubt), and he did so by "robbing Peter to pay Paul" by taking that raise out of the lottery aid to cities and towns.
This act of snubbery to our local fire and police departments and town hall staffs was expected. After all, none of those constituencies have nearly the strength in their unions as the Massachusetts Teachers Association does. We knew that this would happen.
The act of extortion comes into play when we look at the "casino contingent lottery funds". This is a separate line item in the revenue budget, and appears to say to us that if we do not support Governor Patrick's casino plan, and if the legislator votes against the casino plan, then additional lottery revenue for cities and towns disappears.
This, of course, is outrageous and should not be tolerated.
Luckily for us, there are a few Republicans in the House and Senate that are actually willing to stick up for the local municipalities and fight for level funded lottery aid to cities and towns. Representative Brad Jones, the Republican Minority Leader in the House, has proposed House Docket 4651 in order to return some $450 million in diverted lottery aid to the cities and towns. There still is a chance that this may see the light of day in the House.
Yesterday, I received an email from Representative Brad Jones' office saying that he and his Republican colleagues are fighting to remove this "casino contingency" and to at least level fund lottery payments to cities and towns. His email contained a petition for each of us to "sign" by emailing back our full names and local elected official titles.
I thought that I would come here and post his email address here and invite all of you to email your support for his efforts as well.
This is grass roots, folks. Isn't this why Red Mass Group.com was formed, to bring Republican activism to the net?
Let's all send an email to Brad Jones to support him in his efforts. His email is : Bradley.Jones@state.ma.us
This is a very important issue, folks. We need to show the Democrat Majority in the House and Senate that we DO pay attention to the state budget and that we want more of our tax dollars to come back to the local level where they can be spend much more wisely.
We need to send them a message that we won't tolerate their scheme to ever expand the tax base by holding on to all the money at the state level while forcing cities and towns to pass Proposition 2 1/2 overrides in order to present level services to their communities.
Please help by acting NOW! Thank you. |
