RMV Tax?

If someone can explain the sense in this, I’m all ears:

Gov. Deval Patrick is quietly whacking beleaguered Bay State motorists with a $5 fee to use Registry of Motor Vehicle branches to renew their licenses and registrations, outraging critics who say the “back-door tax” hits poor and elderly drivers the hardest.

The fee, which goes into effect today, comes on the heels of a $10 license renewal increase last year.

“In this economic climate we shouldn’t be nickel-and-diming people for mandated services,” said state Sen. Steve Baddour (D-Methuen), who co-chairs the Legislative Transportation Committee, and is planning to look into repealing the fee.

Republicans said residents ought to be able to walk in and use their RMV branches without penalty.

“This is a back-door tax that hits the poor and elderly the hardest,” said Tarah Donoghue, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Republican Party. “They can’t afford or don’t have Internet access and computers. The Patrick-Murray administration is burdening those people who can afford it the least.”

Customers will incur the new $5 fee if they speak with an RMV representative on the phone or go in to one of the 30 branches for the following services:

• Renewing your driver’s license (except for the 10-year renewal required in person);
• Getting a duplicate license or Massachusetts ID;
• Renewing your registration; or
• Requesting an attested driving record.

The fee won’t be charged for transactions completed online, by mail, or over the RMV’s automated phone system.

I just don’t get this. This is essentially a tax for interacting with state employees in lieu of utilizing automated or online services. I find this particularly odd because it’s usually the other way around, and dubbed a “convenience fee.” I’ve gotten my fair share of parking tickets around the Boston area, and wouldn’t you know it, if I wanted to pay my fine online, I was charged a fee; if I paid in person or by mail, no fee.

So which is it? Are we to be levied with fees for utilizing online services, or in-person services? Either way, it’s absurd. More transactions online mean less people to pay at the RMV, so it ends up in a cost savings and it saves people time. It’s a win-win. But charging people to waste their time in line, dealing with people who really couldn’t care less about helping you, for that you are charging a fee?

Screw that. My license expires next year, and since I renewed online 5 years ago, I have no choice but to go stand in line at the RMV, and I’ll be damned if you try to charge me an extra fee to do that.

Governor Cellucci signs on to Dahlberg Campaign Steering Committee

I’m pleased to share the following news clip – from yesterday’s Chelmsford Independent:

Dahlberg adds another familiar face to campaign

GateHouse News Service, Posted Jan 25, 2010 @ 10:22 AM

Chelmsford — The ‘Eric Dahlberg for State Senate’ campaign announced that former Gov. Paul Cellucci has signed on to the campaign’s Steering Committee as honorary co-chairman. Gov. Cellucci joins Honorary Chairman Lucile “Cile” Hicks, who represented the 3rd Middlesex District in the state Senate from 1990 to 1996.

“I am pleased to sign on as Honorary Co-Chair of the Dahlberg campaign’s steering committee,” said Cellucci. “Eric is the right candidate for the Third Middlesex District: an independent, fiscally conservative, reform-minded public servant who will bring some badly needed commonsense back to Beacon Hill.”

“I am honored that Governor Cellucci has joined the team,” said Dahlberg. “His fiscally conservative views match my own.”

Dahlberg is a member of the Chelmsford Board of Selectmen. He earned a bachelor’s in history from Dartmouth College in 2000 and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University in 2002. His professional background is in health care policy. He is a member of several area civic and charitable organizations. He and his wife Suzanne reside in Chelmsford.

Link to story is here.

Chelmsford’s Economic Development Committee off to a great start

The lead story in today’s Lowell Sun covers the impressive early work of Chelmsford’s Economic Development Committee.

Appointed by Town Manager Paul Cohen and approved by the Board of Selectmen just weeks ago, the Committee members have really hit the ground running:

Officials working on a branding plan for Chelmsford are banking on theirs to draw more revenue and people into town. As the recession wallops cities and towns across the country, members of Chelmsford’s Economic Development Committee are looking toward an image makeover to help attract business investment, tourists and new residents.

He’s Misstra Know-It-All

Can Gov. Patrick get any worse?

Gov. Deval Patrick’s punchy campaign staff sent out an e-mail blast to supporters Monday night hoping to blunt yesterday’s Herald expose on the administration’s year-long hiring frenzy, flinching even before the brutal news hit the street.

But experts warn the attempted pre-emptive political strike is risky business for the slumping governor’s re-election bid.

“It just whiffs of desperation,” said Thomas Whalen, a Boston University political science professor. “It sounds like they can’t afford to have any bad news, so they’re trying to get on top of bad stories before they even come out.”

Patrick campaign officials sounded the alarm Monday night – hours before the Herald’s splash landed on racks. The report detailed how the administration has hired some 1,300 new employees this year – including a librarian for cons, a painter for public health and a “game biologist” – despite a spiraling fiscal crisis.

“The story may unfairly distort the Governor’s outstanding record of confronting our state’s budget challenges,” Patrick campaign manager Sydney Asbury wrote in the e-mail obtained by the Herald.

Asbury also urged readers to “forward the e-mail to 10 friends” in an attempted viral campaign to spin the story in their favor.

However, a subsequent Herald payroll analysis shows the administration in fact low-balled the projected annual salaries of some of the new hires by as much as $34,000.

Reached yesterday to explain the mistaken figures provided to the Herald, Sally McNeely of the state Human Resources Division, said, “It appears an error was made in the initial entry.”

Meanwhile, Patrick campaign spokesman Steve Crawford said the e-mail blast – which highlighted a 2,000-job net loss from the state payroll – was standard operating procedure. “We place a high level of importance on keeping our supporters informed and this is another example of that,” he said.

A rapid response to head off bad press isn’t new to political campaigning, but it runs the risk of spreading negative news to an even larger group, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor.

“It can end up drawing even more attention to the matter,” said Sabato. “Obviously Patrick has a very tough general election in front of him, and he has to come out swinging every time there’s a charge against him.”

UPDATE: More from the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Beacon Hill Institute, Holly Robichaud and Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Howie Carr and the Herald.

Around town on Sunday, November 29th

At 50th anniversary of Garrison House Association in Chelmsford with Selectman Pat Wojtas and Janet Askenburg.

Photo courtesy of Tom Christiano.