Just got back from the Democratic Governor’s candidates’ debate @ CBS4, which will be broadcast @ 8:30am on Sunday. I don’t have time to do a big write-up right now, but I’ll just give some impressions:
as far as I can tell. General tone: Reilly was aggressive, a bit over
the top at times; Patrick’s consensus-y approach, which is great on the
stump, occasionally left him a bit on the defensive; Gabrieli was
thoughtful and thorough, perhaps a bit marginalized.
it’s an easy hook for the media and the public. It’s not going away.
Deval Patrick is taking a “nuanced” position, which frankly Tom Reilly
is taking advantage of. Patrick could be more aggressive in future
debates about how he will protect taxpayers from waste; he claims to
have already
found $735 million in savings.
lower the tax rate to 5.0%. Patrick says “that math doesn’t work.”
Gabrieli says “we need to have a plan” to get down to 5.0.
Where’s Tom getting those figures from? Do they really work out? What
is the math?
Reilly, Patrick and Gabrieli each need to show their work.
It’s not enough to say A. the money’s magically going to be there; or
B. that it’s not; or that C. “I have a plan” (heard that one before?). Show
us the money. I know that this is going to be over the heads of the
average voter, but the press and other opinion leaders need to evaluate
the candidates’ respective credibility on this critical issue.
Please share widely!
David and Charley, on today’s headline posts (the Gov debate and doubts about Tom Reilly’s electability.)
<
p>
It’s particularly cool to see you getting to invited to press events and developing your own sources. Some bloggers are good at this, some are not so good (if they even bother.) This further bolsters your credibility (although I would be careful with sources who go on background a lot, or even off the record.)
I was very glad to get their invitation. It was quite considerate and inclusive of them. The other folks in the press were quite friendly and accomodating, with each other and with me.
… one of these three candidates suggested that by reducing the state income tax to 2.5%, enough high-income people would want to relocate to MA that the net effect would actually be an increase in tax revenue?
<
p>
Could they win the primary?
It’s called New Hampshire
The income tax rate wasn’t 2.5% when the legislature voted to “temporarily” raise in the early ’90s, it was 5.0%. The return to 5.0% is not just about respecting the voter’s mandate, it is about following through on a promise that the Democratic legislature made to the voters nearly 15 years ago and then chose to ignore during the tax revenue boom of the late ’90s. As a result, independent voters lost trust in our party to respect their tax dollars. Supporting the rollback is about earning back that trust.
For how long should I set the VCR to run at 8:30 on Sunday?
<
p>
(newspapers don’t publish Sunday TV listings until Sunday)
35 minutes, tops.
And hey, how come you guys aren’t in leftyblogs.com anymore? I KNEW something was missing but couldn’t put my finger on it…
We’ve asked them, but so far no reply. Kind of annoying…
Debate moderator Jon Keller has posted an analysis saying “Reilly achieved the most.”
Ummm…that’s becase he showed he “had a pulse.” Sounds like Reilly’s just the beneficiary of lowered expectations.
Keller could have said any of the three candidates “achieved the most,” but he selected Reilly, whatever the expectations were.
He’s basically right; Reilly was aggressive, stuck closely to his talking points, wouldn’t get thrown off, attacked Patrick. (If that kind of thing drives you nuts about politicians, well, you won’t like the performance.) So Reilly probably did what he felt he needed to do.
Good point, Lynne. I had noticed the absence, but just figured other posts had been more recent, but now I realize BMG has been totally missing for several days now.
<
p>
What’s the hang-up on taxes? I, for one, hope the Patrick will stick with his unique and defining position that we can’t roll back the income tax until we can be satisfied that localities have been made whole, and that the pressure is taken off the local property tax.
<
p>
Ask any Mayor or Town Manager or anyone else familiar with municipal budgets around here and they will shudder to think of an income tax rollback. Reilly has already lost a lot of support in the western reaches of the state over this issue.
<
p>
As Charlie say, “show me the money” — but more specifically, show me how localities won’t end up on the short end of the stick.
<
p>
P.S. Check out my offer.