As you’ll recall, Christy Mihos’s campaign website (christy2006.com) was live for a brief period in mid-February, then went mysteriously dark again. Now, perhaps in celebration of his official campaign kickoff, it’s back up, and it’s undergone a significant makeover.
The “welcome” message on the front page is much less windy than the last one – it’s shorter and more focused. And Mihos has posted his first policy proposal (moving him into a tie with Tom Reilly), which he calls “Proposition 1.” It’s designed to control property tax increases by allowing property to be reassessed only when it changes hands. Of course, that means that municipalities will be collecting a lot less property tax. To redress that, Mihos says he’ll pledge 40% of state income tax revenue for local aid, up from around 30% now. Mihos does not discuss what state-level programs he will cut to offset the 10% decrease in state funds.
Mihos dismisses another obvious problem with “Prop. 1” – the fact that a family that holds onto its house for many years will end up paying dramatically lower taxes than its neighbor who just moved in – by saying don’t worry, the fire department will still show up at any house that’s burning, regardless of how much they pay in taxes. That’s not the point, Christy – the point is that it’s not really fair for those who have just moved into a community to pay for the lion’s share of the fire, police, and schools.
Anyway, if – as I suspect – Mihos commits enough gaffes over the coming weeks and months to turn his campaign into a running joke, his policy ideas won’t matter a whole lot.
Oh – one more question. Christy Mihos isn’t a lawyer, he’s a businessman who runs a chain of convenience stores. So why does the photograph of him on the website’s front page show him in front of a bookshelf full of law books? Shouldn’t he be in front of a rack of porn magazines or something?
Great post . . . I like the rack of porn magazines suggestion. The Boston Phoenix’s Adam Reilly also has some good commentary on proposition 1.
end of your post detracts from the important points you made. I believe his proposal makes a lot of sense because many cities and towns will not see higher values in the future, and indeed in many cities municipal revenues will go down. A fixed property assessment is predictable, protects the those who have retired on fixed incomes and those who have adjustable rate mortgages. They will be impacted severly when interest rates go up at the same time as assessments. . Surely, there is a common middle ground to make the idea work. I believe there is a lot of validity to his proposal , so lets not be so self rightious to bash a successful businessman with good idea with a porn comment simply because you don’t like him. You would not never make the same comment about Patrick now, would you?
It was a joke – and admit it, it was funnier than Mihos’s jokes at the biotech conference. Plus, I’m serious about his photograph in front of a bunch of lawbooks. If he wanted to be a lawyer or a judge, he should’ve gone to law school.
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As for the merits of Prop 1, I’m all for property tax relief, but I think his proposal has major problems that he’s not addressing. If he wants to be taken seriously as a candidate, he’d better think a bit more seriously about the issues that he wants to run on.
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As for Deval Patrick, no, I wouldn’t make a similar comment about him – but the reason I wouldn’t is because it wouldn’t make any sense (much less be funny). Patrick worked for law firms, for DoJ, and for Coke and Texaco. None of those organizations are noted for selling porn magazines. Convenience stores are. Ergo, funny for Mihos, not funny for Patrick. Sorry.
Just because he can sell smut mags in full view behind the counter does mean he should.
Not that i care. I just think it is funny. Hollier-than-thou- sperm lottery winner dink
His Prop 1 has so many problems but Christy thinks he is brilliant and original.
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I bet he wants to talk to Terry Fracona and tell him about the delay steal. It worked on his little league team.
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Sperm lottery winner holier-than-Thou dink.
good discussion about a very interesting and real life problem. I just get irked by the opporunity to get a nerdy laugh from your lefty readers .Mihos is eccentric, I don’t particularly like him also but lets stay with the issues please.
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p> The real fact is how many of your people ignore how Deval Patrick turned the Civil Rights business into a profitable business model. A struggling civil rights lawyer learns how to become a multimillionaire .The liberal press will never pick it up and certainly none this blog will be concerned because he blows all the smoke up their butts, …reminds me of that Kennedy liberal, who by the way just blew you all off with the windmills.
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. But the fact is that this Patrick is a an opportunist who has taken his people’s struggle and profited from it. Texaco coke etc.$$$$$$$$$ as their civil rights lawyer, ..It Does not make him a bad guy , nor do I have any problem with the fact that he sensed an opportunity and ran with it. But,its a great country and he deserves it .
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It really bugs me that a guy like Reilly the average guy who still lives in the 3 decker house in Watertown is shit on in this site ,all the time although he has such a more real time progressive background than your guy Deval who went to milton academy , Harvard etc. Please explain the rationale.
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It makes no sense and what it tells me is that because the guy is black he is your favorite. It might not be politically correct thinking but certainly is the truth as I see it.
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You blue state liberals just crack me up with the phoney baloney. I guess I am just ready to move on to another site that is more of a reality based commentary. Even your byline is tainted.
Funny, I thought it was because he isn’t in favor of cutting public resources to solve public problems any further. And because he’s unabashedly pro equal rights for all people and didn’t have to be dragged to that position. And because he’s for clean, renewable energy even when it’s in some powerful peoples’ back yards. And because he can talk in articulate, moving language about his positions on issues. And so on.
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That’s the rationale, RML. If you do choose to move onto another site, don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
The so-called “Welcome Stranger” property tax system they tried in California and Mihos is calling “Prop 1” is incredibly unfair.
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Picture this:
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Two identical houses next door to each other. Neither is assessed for years and each are paying $1,000 in property taxes. Joe Neighbor sells his and leaves. Joe Newguy is reassessed and now must pay $5,000 in property taxes on a home identical to his next door neighbor, who is only paying $1,000. No one will move to Massachusetts. This is a system that, essentially, offers a financial disincentive to people to buy a home in our Commonwealth. Isn’t our current Administration doing enough to lose population, Christy?
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Another problem is his suggestion to drastically increase the amount of state aid to cities and towns in order to “balance” the massive loss of property tax revenue that this would create. Bad, bad mojo. While local aid is something politicians want in the short term, public administrators and local finance administrators know that it is a dangerous drug to get addicted to in the long term – more aid from the state means (a) the municipality has less control over their (now principle) revenue source and (b) state aid levels are tied to state revenues are tied to sales and incomes taxes are tied to volatile markets; property taxes are tied to more stable market forces and are therefore predictable and tend not to spike or slump in as dramatic a fashion. This latter point is important because cities and towns are required to balanced their budgets each year.
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So, the long and short of it is if this is the best Christy can come up with, maybe he should get back into the business of retailing pornography. Oops, sorry, rightmiddleleft.
There is a big problem with Mihos’ Proposition 1 plan…that the SJC found a plan very similar to that to be unconstitutional. Throughout the late 60s and early 70s cities and towns had different property tax assessment: those for the long-term owners and those for the recently purchased. In declaring such disparate taxation unconstitutional the SJC required the cities and towns of the Commonwealth to institute a single assessment vehicle for all properties in the state.
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That the SJC’s decision produced unexpected results are unquestioned. The citizen’s of Massachusetts, believing themselves to be over-taxed, rebelled and enacted Propsition 2 1/2. An ill-advised and ill-formed measure limiting annual property tax increases. Cities and towns no longer able to stick it to the “new guy” enacted substantial zoning regulations creating what we see today as a serious shortage of housing production in the state, suburban sprawl, and illogical and illformed city planning.
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That being said, Mihos’ plan will go the way of the same-sex marriage restrictions the gutter where all such malformed policy ideas belong….