The Black Friday Mass Exodus

How’s that 6.25% sales tax looking now?

Massachusetts’ loss is Juliana Aquino’s gain. The 27-year-old mother of two could have done her Black Friday shopping at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Methuen, where she lives. Instead, she made a 15-minute trek into New Hampshire, where there is no such thing as a sales tax.

“I come here all the time, even though there’s one closer,’’ Aquino said at 5 a.m. yesterday, pushing a shopping cart loaded with four flat-screen TVs. “I come up here even to buy groceries.’’

Massachusetts shoppers are fleeing the state’s rising sales tax in droves and shopping in New Hampshire. Fueled by necessity – and in some cases anger – customers said they were heading over the border to save money and score deals. Cars with Massachusetts license plates clogged the roads and lots across Salem. And through the early evening yesterday, the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem and Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua – both just a few miles over the border – reported spikes in traffic over last year, according to Laurel Sibert, a spokeswoman for Simon Malls, which runs both shopping centers.

“The New Hampshire malls have definitely benefited from the sales tax increase in Massachusetts,’’ Sibert said.

No surprises here… the reason why Black Friday is such a big hit with shoppers is because prices are lower; why can’t Beacon Hill figure this out?

Bob Bliss, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, said in an August interview with the Globe that the net revenue gains from the sales tax hike outweigh the $48 million in expected losses from sales diverted to New Hampshire, the Internet, or reduced demand. Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue could not confirm projected losses in tax revenue from people going to New Hampshire yesterday. But a recent report by the department showed that Massachusetts’ tax revenues for the first half of November totaled $41 million, equal to collections over the same period last year.

So long as there is still a majority of Massachusetts residents being screwed by the increase in the sales tax, they are still happy. Thanks a lot.

Anyone who can, keep sticking it to them. Cross the border and free yourself of the overbearing tax burden that has been bestowed upon us by the same elected officials you keep voting for.

The Maine Reason

Last week, Maine became the 31st state to reject a referendum that would have legalized gay marriage.

With 87 percent of precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote in a referendum that asked Maine voters whether they wanted to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage that had passed the Legislature and was signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.

“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation,” said Frank Schubert, the chief organizer for Stand for Marriage Maine, which lobbied for the repeal.

For the gay rights movement, which has gained a foothold in New England, it was a stinging defeat. Gay marriage has now lost in every state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine, framing same-sex marriage as a matter of equality for all families in a campaign that used 8,000 volunteers to get out the message.

Five states have legalized gay marriage — Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut — but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote.

Portland resident Sarah Holman said she was torn, but decided — despite her conservative upbringing — to vote in favor of letting gays marry.

“They love and they have the right to love. And we can’t tell somebody how to love,” said Holman, 26.

Hold on a minute here…let’s get the record straight. This vote did not outlaw homosexuality, it only outlawed gay marriage. They are still free to love to each other.

While the gay marriage opponents claimed victory, Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, held off conceding until early Wednesday, when he issued a statement vowing to continue to press the issue.

The fight for marriage equality will continue, he told supporters at the Holiday Inn ballroom, where a buffet table included a three-tiered wedding cake — with two grooms standing side by side, two brides standing side by side and the inscription: “We all do!”

And this is why you will never, ever, ever see gay marriage be voted on by the people, and not ushered in by a small handful of judges. The pro-gay marriage movement knows that gay marriage will not survive a vote by the people…and they will stop at nothing to keep you from voting on it.

But hey, if you want to keep electing people that choose to effectively put duct tape over your mouths, by all means…

Titanic

Has Gov. Patrick hit an iceberg? And if he loses next year, will the hearts of progressives go on?

Governor Deval Patrick, in his first detailed comments on a Globe poll showing that he is struggling politically, told reporters yesterday that he was dismayed by the numbers but that they were the price he paid for making difficult decisions.

“I’m not happy about the poll,’’ Patrick said. “Who would be? But I also appreciate – and I think most people in the public do – that we have nothing but tough choices in front of us right now and those choices affect people, whether they are cuts, or reforms, or what have you. And because we aren’t running from those hard questions and tough choices, people are going to be sometimes upset.’’

Patrick, who faces budget problems that are likely to worsen, said he expects people’s frustration with the state of the economy to hurt his poll numbers.

“Campaigns are about explaining what we’ve done, and more importantly where we’re going, and we’ll have an opportunity in the campaign to do just that,’’ he said. “And the people will have an opportunity to choose whether they want to go forward or go backward.’’

Asked whether he regretted signing a nearly $1 billion boost in state taxes, the bulk of which take effect Saturday, he said: “I think it was the right fiscal decision. I did it reluctantly, but not without [ensuring] that members of the public wouldn’t be paying for the same old, same old.’’

“The reelection will come,’’ he continued. “We have an opportunity through the campaign to explain why we make the judgments we do, how difficult the decisions are before us all, not only state government.’’

The poll, which was conducted for the Globe by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, found that public confidence in Patrick had dropped dramatically and that he is running behind or even with his prospective rivals in next year’s race.

UPDATE: From Michael Graham, Andrea Estes, Matt Collette, Hillary Chabot, State House News Service, NECN and the Boston Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Politico.com, Massachusetts Matters, Red Mass Group, Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Suck On This One, Deval

John Lynch, the governor of New Hampshire, has signed a bill that would keep New Hampshire retailers from becoming sales tax collectors for Massachusetts and other states.

New Hampshire doesn’t have a general sales tax, a selling point it uses to attract out-of-state retail dollars. Lynch said today the new law will protect the state’s businesses and will help to strengthen our its economy.

Retailers wouldn’t have to provide sales information to out-of-state tax collectors. The other state would have to prove a good or service bought in New Hampshire is used, stored or consumed in the other state.

The bill was filed in response to action Massachusetts took against a Connecticut-based tire store chain. Massachusetts attempted to collect $108,000 in “use” taxes from Town Fair Tire for sales it made to Massachusetts customers at its New Hampshire stores.

I guess they’ll just raise taxes to get the money…

The Heat Goes On

Aren’t we getting a little tired of this?

Since taking office in January 2007, Gov. Deval Patrick has used a credit card from his campaign committee to charge $85,000 in travel expenses to fund the governor’s – and his wife’s – advocacy of President Barack Obama’s campaign.

Charges included travel to New York, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

On Election Night, Nov. 4, 2008, Patrick’s staff traveled to Chicago on American Airlines for $623 and spent $410.92 in campaign money on meals at the Blue Water Grill. On Oct. 14, 2008, Patrick charged $38.95 at Sammy’s Famous Corned Beef in Pittsburgh, Pa., as a “Political Meal (Obama for America).” On Oct. 29, $389.50 was charged to the committee’s credit card for staff travel to Florida for Obama.

Steve Crawford, spokesman for the governor’s political committee, said the governor’s spending fell within the rules of campaign funding.

“His advocacy on behalf of Barack Obama was a permissible and perfectly appropriate expenditure,” he said.

The Patrick campaign fund also paid for the travel of another Obama advocate – Patrick’s wife Diane.

Office of Campaign and Political Finance records show that on Feb. 20, 2008, Patrick charged $679.20 for “Candidate and Wife Travel” to a Democratic Governor’s Association Meeting on his campaign’s credit card. On Nov. 4, 2008, Gov. Patrick spent $1,246 for an American Airlines flight to Chicago for “Travel Candidate and Wife.”

Jason Tait, spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, said that, by law, candidates can make expenditures to enhance their political future as long as it’s not primarily personal. He said a campaign can pay for a spouse’s travel expenses if the spouse is an agent of the campaign committee.

Crawford said Diane Patrick’s travel fell within these guidelines. “It was both the governor and his wife who were actively involved in Barack Obama’s campaign and spoke on his behalf and were honored to attend this (Nov. 4) historic meeting at (the president’s) invitation.”

Pam Wilmot, executive director for the good government group Common Cause Massachusetts, said travel is important to candidates because they can build relationships with political contacts and create a broader national following.

“Travel is necessary to be the governor of Massachusetts if you are looking for a higher office,” she said.

But Wilmot said the use of campaign funds for Diane Patrick’s travel flirted with the prohibition of spending campaign funds for personal use.

UPDATE: More from the AP and Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Globe, Herald and NECN.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the AP, Howie Carr and Boston Herald.