Tisei Leading The Charge To Nix Hack Holidays

If ever there was a time to get rid of these ridiculous holidays, it’s now. Thankfully, there is one party on Beacon Hill willing to get it done.

A Senate push to repeal two controversial Suffolk County holidays – which went down to defeat in a close vote last month – could get new life thanks to a top Republican who has vowed to refile the bill, the Herald has learned.

A budget amendment to eliminate Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day drew widespread support from Senate Republicans and liberal Democrats alike – including Hub state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz – but the measure ultimately fell short by a 21-17 vote.

“We got more support than ever this year,” Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei said yesterday. “We’re picking up a lot of momentum and, given the fact that this has so much support, I’ll be filing it as a piece of legislation.”

That’ll give lawmakers such as Sen. Michael Knapik another chance to skewer the much-maligned holidays, which the Westfield Republican says cost the state more than $5 million at a time of likely steep tax hikes and deep budget cuts.

“It’s hard to justify these days off any more,” Knapik said. “I’m heartened by the 17 votes. Hopefully they’ll bring some sanity to everyone else.”

All schools and other nonemergency government agencies are closed in Suffolk County on Bunker Hill Day on June 17 and Evacuation Day on March 17. State employees also are allowed to take the days off or use them as floating holidays.

Outside of Suffolk County, these holidays are a joke. Let’s face it, government agencies don’t need two more days a year to be earning holiday pay when most of these people are serving positions that have little to no purpose.

Senators took the first vote on a Republican budget amendment aimed at axing the holidays two weeks ago, sparking a roughly 15-minute debate laced with sarcasm and old-fashioned Boston tribalism.

“If they want to debate the merits of the Suffolk County holidays I’m happy to defend them,” said Sen. Jack Hart (D-Dorchester). “It’s not a frivolous tradition. We hold it to be important, and I wonder if we get rid of it does that open the Pandora’s box to perhaps over time get rid of other holidays.”

Senator Jack Hart, you are a fool. Yeah, can you imagine nixing holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving? Of course not. It is absolutely a frivolous tradition. In a day and age where I’d be willing to be most children attending public school can’t tell you the real meaning of “religious” holidays like Easter or Christmas (besides the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus), an even smaller percentage are likely to be able to tell you what Bunker Hill Day or Evacuation Day are. How many of the hacks who take those days off know what those days are all about?

You know that in the private sector, employees are being treated to less paid holidays now than they were even just last year–it’s a sign of the times. When the rest of us are being forced to make sacrifices, we expect the government to do the same–especially considering it’s our money they are flushing down the toilet so a bunch of do-nothing hacks can go enjoy a spring or summer day while the rest of us work to pay for their days off.

Sales Tax Hike Passes House

Late last night, House Democrats passed a 25% sales tax hike…

A bruising budget brawl on Beacon Hill ended with House lawmakers approving a sales tax hike, as House Speaker Robert DeLeo won a potentially veto-proof margin over Gov. Deval Patrick’s objections.

The House voted 108 to 51 to raise the state sales tax 25 percent to 6.25 cents on every dollar, casting their ballots at 11 p.m before calling it a night. The Senate still must approve the tax boost before it goes to the governor.

The new speaker only narrowly secured a two-vote margin to override Patrick’s threatened veto, and had to sway freshmen lawmakers to carry the day.

“It’s clear (Patrick’s) trying to scuttle the sales tax because he wants a gas tax instead, and there isn’t enough support to pass a 19-cent gas tax,” said state Rep. Joseph Wagner (D-Chicopee), chairman of the transportation committee, before the vote was taken.

And what of Patrick’s veto threat? Sorry, but I’m not impressed by your threat to veto, Governor; not from someone who continues to entertain hikes in taxes on gas, alcohol and candy as well toll hikes before even seriously considering cuts in spending.

Again, not impressed–and considering the margin of the vote is just enough to beat out a Patrick veto, he is doing nothing more than shooting blanks.

We Don’t Deserve a Bailout

It seems that everyone is looking for a bailout…even the State of Massachusetts.

Gov. Deval Patrick – already struggling to close a whopping $2.5 billion shortfall in this year’s budget – could be facing an astonishing $4 billion gap in next year’s spending plan – a deficit that could wash away the state’s savings and guarantee massive local cuts in police, fire and education.

Rep. Robert DeLeo, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, confirmed Patrick’s budget writers are confronting a $3 billion to $4 billion shortfall as they craft the fiscal 2010 budget – and it could get even bigger.

“That’s the worst case scenario,” DeLeo said, before adding: “But I wouldn’t bet the house on it.”

Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, called the situation ugly.

“I think our situation is desperate,” Widmer said. “We’re facing very painful budget cuts to local aid cuts, human services and health care.”

The global economic meltdown has caused state tax revenues to fall off a cliff, Widmer said, blowing a massive hole in the fiscal 2010 budget Patrick aides are drafting even as they develop a plan to close the $1.1 billion gap in this year’s budget.

That comes on top of a $1.4 billion shortfall that opened up in the fall, and which Patrick closed by slashing spending and laying off 1,000 state workers.

So what the solution to the problem? Hope! Hope is the solution–hoping for a bailout.

DeLeo said Beacon Hill lawmakers are hoping for a massive infusion of cash from the Obama administration to help plug the hole. “It could play a major role in addressing” this crisis, DeLeo said.

I wouldn’t bet the house on that either.

Rather than hoping for a bailout from Patrick’s buddy in the White House, lawmakers on the Hill need to do exactly what many of us criticized the auto industry and Wall Street for not doing while instead asking for a bailout. The state needs to make some fundamental changes to the way we do business so things like cutting critical services like policemen, firefighters, teachers, etc., aren’t on the table. But then again, maybe I’m the one with my head in the clouds.

Before one penny of Federal money arrives, Massachusetts needs to prove we deserve it. What are the conditions for getting this money? How can Governor Patrick and the majority party on Beacon Hill assure the taxpayers that these monies will be used appropriately, rather than using them to pad their pensions, fund outrageous pet projects, or a spa vacation to the St. Regis resort in California (remember AIG)?

A message to the new President of the United States: Don’t give Massachusetts a bailout until we prove we deserve it. We need to learn how to fix our own problems (or at least make a worthy attempt) before we ask our neighbors to help pick up the tab.

Right now, Beacon Hill does not deserve a bailout. What are they going to do to prove they do?

Sorry, but “hope” is not the right answer.

Massachusetts Democrats

Chuck Turner Was “Set Up”

Chuck Turner, caught red handed taking a $1,000 bribe, says he was a victim of a “sting” and he was “set up.”

A Boston city councilor allegedly videotaped accepting a $1,000 bribe says he’s the victim of a “set-up” designed to entrap him and is planning make his case on the steps of City Hall on Monday.

Chuck Turner was arrested Friday and charged with one count of attempted extortion and two counts of making false statements for allegedly accepting cash from an undercover agent working with the FBI as part of a public corruption probe at Boston City Hall and the Massachusetts Statehouse.

“I’m calling a press conference for the press and the community to come to the steps of City Hall where I will talk in even more depth about the picture in the paper, about what I believe is going on in this, what I think is a set-up,” the outspoken five term city councilor told WHDH-TV.

Turner, free on a $50,000 unsecured bond, described his arrest as part of a “sting operation in order to try to entrap me.”

“The only recourse to protect the reputation that I have struggled to build over the last 45 years, a reputation of integrity, is to go on (the) defense,” he said.

Hey Chuck, you are absolutely correct. It was a sting, and you were set up to take the bribe, and you accepted it.

Whose fault is it that you took the bribe? It’s not the FBI. It’s not the evil white man. The onus falls on you Chuckie boy. The FBI set you up, and you took the bribe. YOU TOOK THE BRIBE.

You’re just upset you got caught.