Dan Grabauskas for lt. governor? The Republican Rumor Mill is stacked with stories regarding G.O.P. hopeful Charlie Baker, who recently joined Christy Mihos as a contender for the G.O.P. nomination, tapping Grabauskas as his running mate for the 2010 race. Baker and Grabauskas share, or shared, the same consultant – right wing activist Rob Gray; whose now toiling for Baker and once ran Dan’s ill fated campaign for treasurer, when Grabauskas was burried by Tim Cahill.
And then there’s this…….Grabauskas could be leaving his post as general manager at the M.B.T.A. sooner than he prefers since the governor and his transportation secretary, Jim Aloisi, appear to have launched their first strike in a war to dump Grabauskus, a hold over from the Romney Administration. Running for lt. governor could beat sitting at home and watching Joy Beyhar.
What would Grabauskus bring to the ticket? Well…….he’s from Ipswich. And as Ipswich goes, so goes the Commonwealth??
folks are frustrated with the MBTA. That includes Bostonians, folks from the liberal near suburbs (Newton, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville), but also folks who ride the commuter rail from 128-land.
<
p>Don’t think they won’t take out their frustration with MBTA pensions, accidents, fare increases, and poor QoS on Grabauskas.
Now that the mall branches have been closed, the Washington street registry is back to being a model of inefficiency. A visit to renew my license on Friday involved a 2.5 hour wait. People were literally sitting on the stairs since the waiting area was so full.
I went to the registry in Sep 2009 and took a number. I think the whole process took 25 minutes entry-to-exit, which included filling out a form and an eye exam. This was on a weekday, around 10am.
I think you meant Sept. 2008.
Their goal is to force people to conduct business online, but in my experience, the registry Web site is a disaster.
<
p>For example: I needed to make a change in my information (I got LASIK since I last renewed), so put in an inquiry online. Twenty four hours later, I got an email response telling me I had to go downtown. The downtown folks pointed me to the correct form, also available online. Even knowing the name of the form, it took me 10 minutes to find.
<
p>Back to the T: I stumbled across Grabauskas’ press conference on the MBTA Google partnership last week. The minion who introduced him went on and on about transparency and Dan’s visionary leadership. At the time the idea seemed pretty cool. Later, as my second Lechmere train in a row got “rerouted” and I sat in North Station for 30 minutes waiting for a train going my way, I decided I’d much rather have trains that run on time and decent signage.
It doesn’t matter how great or not-great the General Manager is, here’s the decision tree:
<
p>Step 1: Is it a good idea? If “yes”, proceed to Step 2, if no, ditch it.
<
p>Step 2: Can it be done for free? If yes, do it. If no, ditch it.
<
p>The MBTA Google Partnership is free. Making trains run on time (especially if you want them to go to their posted destinations) and posting real information on signs is not.
<
p>As tempting as it is to blame the MBTA problems on Mr. Grabouskas, the real fault lies in the structural failure intentionally designed into the current approach. It was put there by Governor Celluci and Tom Finneran in 2001. It was put there to “starve the beast” and therefore kill it.
<
p>It is working.
<
p>
here
<
p>Shortest wait I found was in Revere: 35 minutes. All other registry sites are over 50 minutes.
<
p>Ah, progress.
The most obvious way to tell voters we need more taxes and fees is to hurt them in the most obvious place. The RMV! We all hate to wait. So cuts are made there to make the voters throw up their hands and accept more taxes so they won’t have to wait. I’m not buying it.
Suppose you are correct, and suppose the cuts at the RMV are a cynical ploy to raise yet more un-needed taxes.
<
p>Is there a scenario where you would agree that more taxes are needed? By what criteria would you recognize that scenario?
<
p>Is it possible to cut taxes too much, in your opinion? What would happen, in your view, if that was done?
If Cahill doesn’t run, Baker wins the Gov’s office in a laugher.
<
p>If Cahill does run, Deval can win a squeaker.
<
p>Everything else, including who Baker’s running mate and stategist are, is pure sideshow.
I haven’t head-to-head polls, plus the election is still more than a year away.