This statement worries me in a lot of ways about the political savvy of the administration.
1) It just catalogues for everyone to hear how the Governor’s agenda is going nowhere – and why bring that up at a hearing with nothing to do with the issues mentioned. If he wanted to call the legislature out on these issues there are other ways to do it.
2) The last line on “the annual spectacle of another hearing on capital punishment” was a nonsensical dig given that a bill was filed to reinstate the death penalty and every bill gets a hearing – and this issue will always be a big one on Beacon Hill so it shouldn’t be pooh-poohed as just a spectacle.
The statement was pissy and bitter and useless. The legislature is made up of a lot of self-important folks who’ve seen Governors come and go and thousands of bills die each year. And because Deval is a fellow Democrat they expect him not to pull this kinda crap so when he does they will not forget it. They are thin-skinned and know how to hold a grudge so this is not gonna help the Guv get anything passed.
And another comment from the Boston Globe article about Deval’s casino plan facing hurdles also troubled me. Here is the para on that:
I think these comments speak volumes about how little capacity and bandwidth the Governor actually has available to him. There is no research budget, no analytical capacity and because of that, the Governor struggles to build a credible evidence base to underpin his proposals.
The Governor needs more brainpower at his beckon. Too much of policymaking on Beacon Hill relies on insider lobbyists and their biased views – too little on real analysis of what works and what doesn’t. The Governor should have a budget to commission research, he should tap the research capacity of Boston’s world-class universities. He should bring in some bright minds from academia to mix with his politicos. This may not win the fight on Beacon Hill but hard evidence and data would strengthen his case. In any event, the admin. has to start thinking outside the box and not just wanly file bills every time an idea pops into their heads.
I was following you until the second to last paragraph. Yes, there were questions about the studies behind the casino plan. I’m guessing you have other issues on which you see the following as being significant. What do you have in mind?
Other issues I have in mind are – corporate taxes, life sciences, anti-crime measures, you name it – the Guv files legislation but there is no truly robust material (no accompanying papers, analytical work) backing up the policies – just rhetoric and press releases. And this means that he has to rely on interest groups to provide his evidence for him – but in doing so, his evidence is seen as biased and easily ripped by foes.
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I just don’t think the State Government in general – but the Governor’s office in particular (and this has long been a problem) has ever had a rigorous approach to policymaking. This isn’t Deval’s fault as he is not doing anything different than other Governor’s before him – but where it becomes a bigger problem for him is that he actually wants to use Government to improve lives. It didn’t matter for Republican Guvs over last 16 years whether they had capacity because they had no ambitions (beyond scoring petty political points and wrecking Govt).
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Deval made a point of trying to keep his office slimmer than his predecessors — allowing more policy to be made by the departments. That is noble but a Governor in this day and age needs more resource and capacity in the center as the demands on his time and attention or so much greater than they used to be.
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And so much effort goes into the day-to-day media and tactical handling no one has space to think long-term and develop policy. Filing a Bill, getting a headline and then hoping it comes out of the legislative morass is not policy development. He shouldn’t feel compelled to file Bills on everything – he could publish reports with recommendations, make them consultative and go out and talk to people – then after the policy is sorted and he’s built a constituency – file a Bill.
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I just think that one of Deval’s goals should be turning the State Government into a smarter (more analytical), more strategic and better agent of delivering progressive policy. Ideas matter!!!
If one allows ideology or political expediency to be one’s guide, studies are superfluous. So too many Republicans for too long has not just drained government of solid technocratic resource but has also set up an environment where it’s difficult to restore it.
You are right – electing anti-government ideologues has sapped Govt of its problem-solving capacity. I think Deval is rightly frustrated that Govt cannot get moving on things quicker – but that is because it is not well prepared to thoughtfully consider a range of important issues and move to craft ideas for change in a timely manner.
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Deval wanted to show people that Govt is important and a force for good – reconnect the public to Govt and show them their ideas mattered and could make a difference. That is why I supported him and still do.
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I think he has to spend as much time (re)building Govts capacity to think through problems and consider appropriate responses, as he does coming up with those responses. If he could leave behind him a world-class State Govt that would be as important as anything else he could do.