When Joe the Plumber asked Barack Obama a tough question, Barack Obama attacked Joe the Plumber.
The citizens of the Commonwealth are complaining about Pike toll increases, Bechtel Parsons getting a $30 million parking garage contract, the Turnpike Authority giving out raises, all this while Massachusetts is losing jobs and trying to impose a gas tax hike, and Deval Patrick is calling us cynics, and stupid.
Enough with the “cheap shots,” said Gov. Deval Patrick, complaining again about media coverage and blaming criticism of his proposals on “cynicism.”
Oh yeah? Enough with the whining, countered a couple of critics.
Patrick was at Suffolk University to mark the state’s No. 1 ranking in a national survey of economic competitiveness when he made his remarks.
“We are awash in cynicism in the commonwealth, but the cynical are not smart; they’re just pretending to be,” Patrick said. “The truth is, we’ve got big problems, and we better start thinking big about the solutions. Ideological purity from the left or the right, in times like these, is like trying to put a Band-Aid on a broken bone.”
He wouldn’t say who he was talking about. Some pols have criticized Patrick’s proposal to abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and other plans out of the Corner Office have been tossed back and forth on talk radio and in the opinion pages. GOP political consultant Holly Robichaud and state GOP party chair Barney Keller said Patrick has been his own worst enemy, citing unkept promises, such as lowering property taxes and adding 1,000 new cops.
Governor Patrick, GO SCREW! Who do you think you are calling stupid? Take a long, hard look in the mirror buddy, because staring back at you is the face of a man who will undoubtedly go down in Massachusetts history as the worst governor…ever. Go screw, Governor. We are tired of your broken promises.
If you are fed up with Deval Patrick and these cockamamie plans to jack up the Pike tolls while the Turnpike Authority is giving out raises, and Beacon Hill schemes to raise our taxes, think about attending the ‘Stop The Pike Hike’ Rally on December 3rd. For more information on the rally, visit stopthepikehike.org.
More on this story at Deval Patrick Watch.
Tags: Barack Obama, Barney Keller, broken promises, Deval Patrick, Deval Patrick Watch, Holly Robichaud, Joe the Plumber, property taxes, tax hike
November 22nd, 2008
Governor Deval Patrick has this idea to “dismantle the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and cut all tolls west of Route 128 except at two state border crossings,” reports the Boston Herald.
Under the plan, expected to be unveiled later this week, Turnpike operations west of Route 128 would be folded into the Massachusetts Highway Department. Operations within Route 128, the so-called Metropolitan Highway System, would be folded into the Massachusetts Port Authority.
Massport already runs the Mystic Tobin Bridge and tunnels leading to and from Logan International Airport.
The plan is an attempt to improve efficiency and try to mollify public complaints amid talk of toll hikes necessary to repair aging infrastructure and pay off the debt of the nearly $15 billion Central Artery project, said the officials, both of whom demanded anonymity in advance of the governor’s formal announcement.
One said dismantling the Pike “would keep a promise to the taxpayers,” especially western Massachusetts drivers who have complained about being saddled with Big Dig costs despite long-broken promises that Pike tolls would be eliminated once the roadway’s original construction bonds were paid off.
According to the plan, tolls likely will be raised inside Route 128, whose drivers make the most use of the Central Artery and its underground system of highways and airport connections. One proposal discussed by the Turnpike board in September called for raising tunnel tolls by $5, from $3.50 to $8.50, and increasing tolls at the Allston-Brighton Turnpike interchange by $1, to $2.25.
Toll booths outside Route 128 will be eliminated, except in West Stockbridge near the New York border and in Sturbridge, close to Connecticut where Interstate 84 meets the Pike. Drivers in passenger cars have not had to pay tolls between Exit 1, in West Stockbridge, and Exit 6, in Springfield, since 1997.
The change would extend the non-tolling area from Exit 7, in Ludlow, through Weston and on to Exit 15 in Newton, where tolls currently are paid only by westbound drivers. It also would drop tolls not only on passenger cars but commercial vehicles in that zone.
I know I’ve heard this idea before…but where?
Oh, wait, now I remember…
[Turnpike] Board member Mary Connaughton, who was appointed by former Gov. Mitt Romney, said the plan “sounded very much like what Gov. Romney proposed two years ago.”
Amazing.
Tags: Boston Herald, broken promises, Deval Patrick, Mitt Romney
November 11th, 2008
So what happened to that property tax relief Deval Patrick promised? I must have missed the promised tax relief because now the Democrat-controlled legislature is on the verge of increasing taxes by nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars.
In response to this, MassGOP Executive Director Rob Willington made the following statement, “This Tax Bill should be renamed to “An Act To Cripple the Economy of the Commonwealth.” The people of Massachusetts don’t need more taxes, they need lower taxes and less government. Instead of raising taxes, Governor Patrick should explain why he hasn’t delivered the property tax relief that Candidate Patrick promised.”
Does anyone support Deval Patrick anymore? He’s just a constant flow of broken promises.
Tags: broken promises, Deval Patrick, tax hike
July 2nd, 2008
