As reasonable, intelligent and largely rational adults, we know that the the state’s budget problem won’t be saved by cutting out the waste, pork, fat, hackarama, or whatever other adjective you want to throw out.
We know that although these things exist, that even if the Massachusetts state government was super-model skinny, there would still be a multi-billion problem.
And we know that — despite what the Herald, Fox 25, Ch. 7, WRKO may insist — firing Carol Aloisi, cutting off Dimasi’s ex-staffers, or rescinding Marian Walsh’s job offer won’t balance the budget.
This state doesn’t have just a fiscal problem, it also has a perception problem. Maybe it’s the legacy of Calvinism, or maybe its the Irish in so many of us, but we Bay Staters are a particularly cynical, pessimistic bunch compared with the rest of the country. And all these recent stories have accompished is confirm Every Cynical Assumption that the average person holds about state government in Massachusetts.
It’s wasteful. Filled with hacks holding no-show jobs. Insiders watching out only for themselves.
Every time there is a story about a Carol Aloisi, or the DiMasi staffers, support for a tax hike of any kind gets smaller and smaller. These stories are like ocean waves, crashing against a bluff, eroding it away until the house on top falls into the ocean.
Because the average person assumes that for every $175,000 state agency job, there’s 100 more non-essential jobs like those eating up their taxdollars. And for every Aloisi, there’s really 1,000 others just like her to sit in some office with no real, clear duties or responsibilities. And for every $100,000 state pensioner, there’s 10,000 more of them sitting in their Cape Cod vacation homes collecting their checks.
We know it’s not true. But the average voter doesn’t. They read the stories. They talk in bars. And their mind is made up. State government is wasteful. I’m not supporting any new taxes.
Yes, we all know that Carol Aloisi has done wonderful things for the state party, as has Marian Walsh, and that Sal DiMasi’s staff was supportive of much of BMG’s platform.
But just ask yourself this: would you rather see Anthony Verga earning $40,000 as a special assistant to the clerk, or would you rather see that money instead used to fund work programs for the mentally challenged, or beds for homless families. Because that’s what it could be used for. All it would take is for the Legislature to approve a simple budgetary transfer, and those programs get extra money.
You need to ask yourself, would we be willing to sacrifice a couple hundred of these political appointee jobs, sacrifice some extra perks, if it meant being able to free up money for the programs we truly care about? Or maybe even getting a tax hike approved? Because these two latter things aren’t going to happen so long as there are Carol Aloisi or DiMasi staffer stories to report.
Thank you!
I agree that we should care about things like this. But isn’t it an impossible standard to meet?
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p>This state is a multi-billion dollar operation. There will always be some instance of some fraud and abuse somewhere.
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p>We are playing into Republican hands if the standard is “there must be no waste and fraud, and the presence of one example means the entire body is corrupt”. That will not happen in any organization.
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p>Also, keep in mind that even if there was zero waste and fraud, it is devilishly easy to portray a lot of things as such. For example, complaining about “volcano research” in a particular tone of voice. Or they’d complain about redecorating an office, or people driving state cars (to do their job), or the state paying for cell phones (again, so the worker can do their job).
…in that 100% fat-free is likely an unattainable goal. (Even in the corporate world there’s usually some brother-in-law stashed away somewhere.)
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p>My greater point is that we Progressives/Liberals/BMGers, should be as upset about these types of stories as the Howie Carr-listener, as the Boston Herald-reader, as the Red Mass. Group posters, because it impairs OUR ability to see OUR agenda succeed.
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p>Demanding fiscal responsibility does not mean you are a fiscal conservative. It means that we want to see more money freed up to provide cancer screenings, or additional school aid, or increased access to mental health specialists. The cynics and the conservatives will never “like” the idea of a tax hike, but they will have less ammunition to shoot it down if we demand that our state representatives and senators (yes, even the good ones!) tidy up the ship.
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p>Imagine if our legislators received scolding Emails not just from the usual group of malcontents, who can be easily dismissed as continually cranky wingnuts, but from their grassroots base? How many BMGers have written to their state rep or senator about any of these issues?
that our outrage on this site has been noticed. The question is to what effect. Judy Meredith keeps posting that electeds act differently when they know they’re being watched; I hope this applies to hiring as well.
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p>You’re right — it’s not just the Herald front page and the usual barnyard noises.
financial implosions even turn democratic eyes to the sin of wasting money. Despite being a GOPer, I’ll pay for services; I feel like I’m being ripped off though if I still see the usual outrages occurring day after day (why old why give more in taxes if they’re just going to steal/waste it anyway?).
It applies to hiring as well. And it applies to whom you accept campaign contributions from and it applies to the school you send your kids to, and the salary you choose to pay your staff, and (pardon me) the drapes you hang.
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p>Of course you have little choice or control over how the media decides to portray the behaviors of you immediate family.
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p>A list of some of the reasons many smart savvy folk decide not to serve in government. There is no privacy and little personal time.
That’s a great response.
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p>The problem I see is that when these issues come up, there is not much opportunity to be opposed to just the problem at hand, because Republicans are very skilled at making the immediate link from “we found a patronage job” to “that proves government is corrupt”. By default, if you agree with the first premise, you seem to be supporting the second premise.
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p>How do we get past that? How do we show outrage at the patronage and sleazy hires without lending credence to the (in my opinion) false idea that government is inherently corrupt — or that Democrats are corrupt?
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p>I would say that BMG has a stake in this question in general, because as you notice, whenever someone from BMG expresses displeasure with an action of Deval Patrick, the press runs with the “progressives are abandoning the governor” meme. How can you oppose just part of an issue that has been crazy-glued together by the press or the Republicans?
I think you’ve struck the exactly right balance here, southshorepragmatist.
I have to say I find it odd that you would pick this random, not all-that-well paid dude to throw under the bus. Did you accidentally omit a zero on his salary, or is he an old enemy from high school, a fictional character, or what?
Other than that, great post.
…former state rep from Gloucester that got beaten in the Democratic primary (!!) last fall but then was given a $40,000 job as a senior administrative aide to the House clerk in January.
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p>He’s a great guy, and spent years as head of the Veterans Committee, but we’re talking about a job that didn’t exist prior to his appointment and doesn’t even have a job description.
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p>http://www.gloucestertimes.com…
Thanks for the clarification.
Whether you are right or left leaning, or somewhere in the middle like myself, this is one area where we can all agree. I will be contacting my state rep and senator to let them know that I’m aware of the spate of “bad” news, that I don’t like it, and that I hope I never see their names associated with wasted tax payer money. Really great post. Beautifully stated.
I have been saying for many months that the political world has to do some serious damage control on what we the public think of them. I have said in a non-partisan way that the public would gladly pay their taxes and maybe even pay “more” taxes if we felt like our hard earned dollars were not being flushed down the drain in the form of hackarama spending or other wasteful examples. I don’t think anybody would expect perfection but the recent appointments are insulting and the excuses for these hires makes me wonder if the Gov and others sincerely believe us to be that stupid OR have we actually become that stupid.
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p>Thanks (from the right) for eloquently stating what many of us have been thinking about politics (of all flavors, both state and national).
But aren’t you really demanding perfection?
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p>If there were dozens of these examples being exposed on a regular basis, then I could believe you. But how many “recent appointments” are we talking about here? Two? Three? So what would you tolerate? One?
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p>This reminds me of the naysayers in Springfield. Springfield has been having a crime perception problem. In my opinion, the perception is nowhere close to reality.
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p>Occasionally we get some good news — the most recent being that crime dropped something like 10% from 2007 to 2008.
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p>The naysayers pipe up almost immediately, pointing to a single crime that may have occurred in the past week, following it with “And you say crime is down. Bah!”.
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p>That is in essence demanding that all crime be eliminated before “the public” is comfortable saying that crime is down or that the city is safer.
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p>So I guess I’m saying that when every example of a patronage hire is raised up the flagpole and waved as an example of corrupt government, then you are in fact demanding perfection.
The percentage of no-show or half-speed or silly or redundant or overpaid jobs, by my estimation, is around 30%.
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p>I could run this state with a third fewer state employees and not affect services one tot.
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p>Just today, I get off the Red Line and there are 2 MBTA guys on the platform, standing there, wearing yellow safety vests with “Driven by Customer Service” on them (puh-lease, new copy needed.) I stopped before climbing the stairs to observe them for, oh, 60 seconds. Doing nothing. Just standing in the flow of disembarking passengers. A Wal Mart greeter’s job is harder.
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p>Maybe these guys have some useful function, I can’t say. But how many silly, feather-bedding, make-work jobs like these exist in the MBTA? Massport? The Turnpike? On Beacon Hill?
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p>Private companies slash 10% or 15% or 20% of their workforces, yet stay in business. So I simply doubled the middle number.
why didn’t you start herding them around, since you apparently feel that public employees must be constantly in motion?
and I’m glad that people are paying attention to this. We’re wasting political capital by ignoring the waste, the no-show jobs and forgetting about reform.
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p>I know many pooh-poohed Senator Murray’s insistence of “reform before revenue,” but it’s not just a “meaningless slogan” in the words of Mr. Aloisi, but a mindset of regular workaday folks. They want to see the reformers really reform – that’s why they voted for them.
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p>This is a chance of a lifetime and I fear that we’re blowing it.
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p>Except it’s not just cynicism within the state it is cynicism throughout the country. The only reason there is such an outcry to cut spending and waste in government is because the government is in fiscal distress and is asking for more money from people who are also in fiscal distress. The tax and fees that Gov. Patrick is asking for is not a progressive tax, but a tax that hits the middle class, those who are struggling to stay afloat. So when you find yourself in a place where you are buying one less loaf of bread every week, and the governor says “you” need to give us more of your money, while I continue to ignore how we waste it, there is going to be outrage.
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p>You said it all right here…
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p>It is such a simple idea, really, I can’t believe they don’t get it. And you know, once things are going well and the economy is back on track and the deficit is more manageable, and housing and credit issues are resolved, and wages have been adjusted for inflation, and health benefits don’t eat my whole paycheck every week, they can go ahead and do the perks and appointees. They won’t hear a peep out of me.
… because you’re not just saving money by keeping the hacks off the payroll — you’re saving trust. That’s what we have so little of right now — in our economy, in our government. People won’t agree to pay taxes to a government they don’t trust. Trust is the great lubricant, of the economy and of politics. It must be protected at all costs.
Trust is the most important thing. It is also easy to lose and hard to earn back. Trust was lost not just statewide but nationwide, and this outrage is the result of almost a decade of blatant disregard for responsible governing by both the Bush Administation and the Romney Administration. Governor Patrick and other state leaders have a huge opportunity here to show that our government can provide strong, trustworthy, and successful leadership. The alternative is not an option. At least not an option that will end well.
It’s not that politicians don’t realize these things are unpopular; it’s not that they don’t want to have money to spend on other issues. So why do they do it?
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p>What favors do they need from the Aloisis, Walshes, Vergas, etc? I assume it’s some kind of political or financial support.
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p>How can we replace that so that the people politicians “owe” are people who want what we want?
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p>We need campaign finance reform. And we need to build organizations that represent interests that will help society, so that when those organizations deliver for politicians the “payback” is spending on something positive.
deval patrick should be ashamed of himself to be associated with the mob type aloisi and his hackette sister carol.
what great ammo patrick is giving to howie carr and the like. even michael graham ‘cracker’ is on target with this one. SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME.