Michael has a good post over at WonkNot, detailing some of the items in the $425 million that Romney cut:
3,400,000 from Park and Beach maintenance
173,000 from child care subsidies for low income families
1,000,000 from head start programs
146,296 from Children at risk program
97,000 from Adult Blind assistance
16,000 from Early Childhood Mental health consultation
5,000,000 from welfare child care caseload
105,000 from head injury programs
40,000 from Food stamps
64,000 from homecare assistance
410,000 from homeless assistance
735,000 from HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention
14,000 from Suicide prevention program
158,000 from Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault services (as someone commented in an email- i guess Kerry Healy was not around when this happened?)
etc. He’s got the full memo in pdf format.
And this is from an email from Health Care for All:
… Romney cut $2.7 million for outreach grants that were to be used to educate the public about the new programs available under health reform, and to help people enroll in these programs.
Earlier last week, twenty-four grantees, including
Health Care For All, were awarded grants, only to
learn on Friday that we would not receive funding for this vital work. The outreach and enrollment
activities planned by HCFA and other organizations
are vital to ensuring the success of health
reform.
The outreach was one of the most sensible things about the new law, absolutely a bipartisan slam-dunk. Much of that money would pay for itself, as people get covered as opposed to remaining uninsured and using more expensive care that later has to get reimbursed by the state.
Look, how much longer does Mitt get to take credit for anything that was actually good in the new health care law, since he’s been so persistent in undermining it? Good riddance to “government by soundbite and gimmick”, huh?
for most citizens, it would have gone under the radar. But those of us that are in the middle of this dilemma daily are like pit bulls….and we are going to fight very hard, to get much of the program items restored.
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As far as the parting shot from our soon to be former governor…. Mitt is underestimating the reach of some of his former constituents. So he wants to be President, do you think WE might be able to shed some glaring light on his abysmal record to the rest of the country in ’08? I’d say he’s ticked off enough of us that we probably will do just that. Gov. elect Patrick has taught us that we CAN take the high road in doing so.
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So many of my community (the disabled), are already suffering from last year’s cuts and we are usually the first to get cut.
After all, we do so little of the complaining about losing our services. (yeah right). Our voices are just not strong enough yet to make a difference. Remember many of us have only had some of our rights for just 16 years. ADA 1990-2006!
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Again thanks for promoting this and not letting it slip further under the radar.
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Barb
http://www.boston.co…
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Of course, one is an agency that serves the disabled, and the other serves the homeless. And one letter writer points out that he’s doing this at the same time that he wants to eliminate Mass Pike tolls. Didn’t any of these pols take Finance 101 in college?
Since chopping off services for folks with brain injuries and seriously mentally ill kids is probably not going to catch the attention of the national MSM, maybe someone can point out to them the cuts for protective police gear by the man who wants to be in charge of national security.
to those folks with mental retardation who’ve been lining up in front of the pork barrel for so many years. As COFAR points out in its blog,
among the governor’s cuts are:
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–He eliminated $28 million, approved by the Legislature over his veto, to increase the compensation for underpaid direct-care, human services workers.
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–He eliminated $2 million from the Turning-22 program–an amount he had steadfastly refused to provide the program this year. Turning 22 provides transitional funding to persons with mental retardation when they reach the age of 22 and are no longer eligible for special education services provided by local school systems. Despite a rising caseload, the Turning 22 program had not received an increase in several years. This year, the Legislature approved the $2 million increase, Romney vetoed it, and the Legislature last summer overrode the veto.
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–He eliminated $4 million in residential and day program services for persons with mental retardation.
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–He cut $1 million under the settlement of the Boulet lawsuit, which provides funding for people with mental retardation who are on a waiting list for care in the community system.
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–He cut $1.37 million in community day and work programs for persons with mental retardation.
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–He cut $618,000 in respite and family services.
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–He cut $34,933 from DMR’s new Autistm Division.
And I hope to heaven you know that MassPike tolls stay within that agency, and do not go to the General Fund, and cannot be used for any other purpose than the Mass Pike and its $65,000 toll takers. Unless Gov. Patrick finishes the GOP plans to merge the Pike with Mass Highway and finally give the Gov. direct oversight? It was voted down by the Legislature in the 2004 and 2005 budget, who responded by incresing the size of the paid Mass Pike board to forestall Romney’s control, but hey, who keeps track of stuff like that?
That will be when?
… that Governor Patrick will indeed be allowed to bring the ‘Pike and Massport under his own control. That’s the best way to provide accountability. And as far as the toll-takers are concerned, it’s not about the Teamsters. From what I’ve heard, only 1/3 of the revenue goes back into personnel; 2/3 of the revenue does indeed go back into the roads.
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But we agree — I think it would be great to reform employment practices in these agencies.
I think it’s kinda contradictory when you say “And as far as the toll-takers are concerned, it’s not about the Teamsters” then say it’d be “great to reform employment practices.”
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The Pike toll takers make almost $70K with benefits. Compare that to say, a bank teller that makes about $40K. Hard to imagine how you’d ‘reform’ that situation without taking on the union.
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The toll foodfight may not be all about the union, but the union sure does have a big nose in the trough.
Should have said “It’s not all about the Teamsters.”
You are fine with the cuts made?
9-c is where the Governor has to bring the spending in line with revenue. The legislature, in its wisdom, has made pretty much only social serice agencies vulnerable. Which, IMNSHO, sucks.
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Here’s a thought- the budget has @ $50 million in enhancements for Fenway Park and enviorns. Theo Epstien, John Thomas, et al, came to the Legislature boo-ooing aobut how broke they are with the salary cap and declining revenues, Fenway is a national treasure, the Sox are a part of Boston, bla, bla, yadda, yadda.
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As soon as they have the moolah in their hot little hands, they dash off to Japan and pay $51 million to TALK to some guy! Yeah, REAL broke.
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That’s sure as hell outside the scope of 9-c cuts!
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The Governor is legally obligated to balance the budget. His only other alternative was to fund it out of the Rainy Day fund. Most of the cuts were deferring raises and delaying grants UNTIL WE HAVE THE MONEY. No, these people work hard and deserve the raises – but the LEg gave it to the Sox. Can we call it team pride?
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It’s like I said in another thread – I’d have given the $75,000 for the stupid JFK statue to the Independence House battered women’s shelter. But, I don’t represent Barnstable, and the Rep. there has that as his priority.
9C gives the governor the authority to cut any line item in the budget, doesn’t it? He’s not limited to social service agencies. I think he could cut real pork if he wanted to.
Do you remember that they slightly expnded Jane Swift’s 9-c authority so Medicaid wouldn’t be ELIMINATED? Most of the budget is still out of bounds, as are the Authorities, i.e., MBTA, Turnpike, Convention Center, and so on.
or defending a sports team trying to get money from the state. But in your 50 million note, it’s not money they can just burn. That’s a financial investment. Another Japanese baseball player Hideki Matsui brings in 21 million in additional revenue from Japan for the NY Yankees.
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How does a financial decision that a company makes have anything to do with this? Also the improvements are on infrastructure. Full time green line stop, road work, etc. It is not to build or work on a Fenway park. The point makes absolutely no sense.
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The question to ask; will the Kenmore area expand due to the infrastructure improvements. Is it a worthwhile investment by the state and will we recoup the investment.
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Stop making up this stuff and give a reasonable answer.
…by taking away the $500,000 given to the City of Boston for “dialoguing about race” – since there is no such word – but hey, what do I know?
…that verbing weirds language?
According to the holiest of texts, the Oxford English Dictionary, dialogue is both a noun and a verb:
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I thought it was something that happened to old woodcutters. They dialoguing…
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Get it? Anyone? hello?
Let’s give it up for the comedic stylings of Gary, people. Gary’s appearing nightly at the French River Saloon. Give ’em another big round of applause….
First, we all should accept the fact that the attempt to have Kerry Healey look gubernatorial led to her announcing the pre-election gimick to eliminate the tolls on the Mass Turnpike west of Route 128. Once we get past that point, we can move onto the fact that the highway is an integral part of the transportation infrastructure of the Commonwealth and the region, and as such should be operated as part of that system. I accept the concept of a toll road to pay for the initial construction of the road, but once it is paid for, it should be operated toll free, end to end as the voters were usually promised when these roads were first proposed. Regardless of whether you drive on the road, or drive at all, for that matter, you benefit from the goods and services that traverse the state on the Turnpike, and those benefits should be paid for by everyone through taxes from the General Fund, and dedicated taxes such as the gasoline tax, paid at the pump. I also don’t see the qualifier used by some politicians (Romneyites) to say that the westerners need not pay while those inside the 128 belt must. Everyone benefits from the road in one way or another, and everyone has a stake in paying for the operation. Lastly, the Turnpike Authority should be ABOLISHED 100%. The operation should be delegated to the Mass Highway Department by region, and the operating assets such as equipment and staff should be distributed to those regions, too. Maybe this will allow for some better maintainance of other highways in those regions. All the management, top to bottom, including directors, should be pink slipped, as well as the toll takers, and any other extraneous employees not obvious to the outside viewer. There is no point in having two different entities operating highwqays in the state. The time has come to consolidate operations.