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Dear Beacon Hill,

July 2, 2013 By Ryan 16 Comments

I hear that there are some issues with the transportation bill.

Power games going on behind the scenes? Politicians scared of raising revenue or unhappy with the Governor?

I really don’t care. It doesn’t matter.

I’m going to make this really simple.

The legislature has a duty to pass bills that will make Massachusetts work, grow jobs and set us up for the future.

Get the job done.

Sincerely,

The people who actually travel on these pothole-infested roads and use the dangerously underfunded T.

AKA your constituents.

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  1. Ryan says

    July 2, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    I realize this may require the legislature to work with someone they disagree with strongly on this issue, but if we could get a health care bill through Mitt Romney, we can get this bill done now.

    No excuses.

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  2. fenway49 says

    July 2, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    if it is anger at the Governor, or political cowardice in letting the Herald set the agenda, but it’s not acceptable to have an 80% plus Democratic legislature fail to raise the revenue we need for a functioning transportation system, while falling hook, line, and sinker for draconian EBT nonsense based on flawed initial reports.

    There are great legislators working hard to do the right thing by our state. Then there are the others, and right there are too many of them in key leadership positions.

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  3. liveandletlive says

    July 2, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    There are plenty of wealthy people in Massachusetts, most particularly in Boston, the Berkshires and the Cape. Stop transferring the tax burden to the middle class, working class and the poor.

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    • fenway49 says

      July 2, 2013 at 4:30 pm

      ad nauseam, how our state constitution prohibits a true progressive income tax. I’d love to change that but it’s a long-term goal. Not easy to amend the state constitution.

      In the meantime, the Governor’s proposal attempted to be as progressive as possible by (1) doubling the personal exemption on state income taxes; (2) cutting the sales tax to 4.5%. It was DiLeo and Murray et al. who wouldn’t go there. That said, if we’re going to raise “non-progressive” taxes, cigarettes is fine with me and 3 cents a gallon on gas is not that oppressive.

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      • liveandletlive says

        July 2, 2013 at 4:35 pm

        thrown out the state constitution as the reason why it can’t be done. It can be done, by taxing wealth not income.

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        • kbusch says

          July 3, 2013 at 12:32 am

          does not make it any more convincing, liveandletlive.

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    • Ryan says

      July 2, 2013 at 4:36 pm

      But progressive attempts to improve things have been ignored or rejected.

      Meanwhile, our roads, rails and bridges are deteriorating. A 6 cent gas tax, spread throughout several years, isn’t my first choice for what we should do, but statistically isn’t going to make a lick of difference in gas prices. That is reflected in the gas prices across states, where the gas tax has little impact on price variance.

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      • liveandletlive says

        July 2, 2013 at 9:49 pm

        being ignored and rejected is not going to work as an excuse anymore. I honestly don’t see much effort.

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        • Ryan says

          July 2, 2013 at 10:05 pm

          It’s what’s happening.

          You blame Democrats for not being progressive enough and then push for less progressive people to get into office.

          Stop complaining when even less progressive “solutions” or new conservative problems arise because of your extreme shortsightedness.

          Myopia: not just a disease of the eyes.

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          • liveandletlive says

            July 2, 2013 at 10:20 pm

            bills are still filled with regressive taxation. There may be one small move toward a fairer tax system, but otherwise, it’s all regressive. That isn’t change; it’s a joke. And yes, I blame Democrats. Massachusetts is run almost entirely by Democrats. Do you want me to blame the powerful Republicans in the state house? Ha! They are the ones that are ignored. I’ve watched the senate and house sessions, the joint sessions, etc. on Mass.gov and the Democrats have the power to do pretty much anything they please.

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            • fenway49 says

              July 2, 2013 at 10:34 pm

              is why an organization like Progressive Massachusetts is so vitally needed. You might mistake those people with a “D” after their names doing “Confederate Flag” Shauna O’Connell’s bidding for Democrats. I don’t.

              Maybe what we really need is a functioning Mass. GOP so some of these “Democrats” can go to their natural home.

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              • bigd says

                July 3, 2013 at 7:11 am

                The sheer size of the dem caucus is actually one of the problems. If some of these more conservative dems were replaced by republicans, the progressives would have a more influential voice in the dem caucuses. The overwhelming majorities mean that the speaker and sen pres don’t have to please everybody in their caucuses to get super-majority votes on pretty much anything they want without trying too hard.

                It also wouldn’t hurt if dems had to worry about primary challenges from their left. There is a core of solid progressives, but it would help if others felt the existential pressure of a potential primary.

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                • sabutai says

                  July 3, 2013 at 8:32 am

                  Though often appreciate the slapstick incompetence of the Mass Republicans the fact is that running as an elephant is political suicide in much of the state. Thus we get conservatives who are not insane running as Dems who would be running as Republicans in New Jersey. If the Republican brand wasn’t such a joke around here we wouldn’t have some of these people weighing the Democratic caucus down.

  4. merrimackguy says

    July 2, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    The legislature has a duty to pass bills that will make Massachusetts work, grow jobs and set us up for the future.

    For most of them it appears they are up there to enhance their social standing and improve their lot in life by all means available.

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    • kbusch says

      July 3, 2013 at 12:37 am

      has the effect of reducing their social standing.

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  5. williamstowndem says

    July 3, 2013 at 8:05 am

    We have to invest in ourselves, and that means infrastructure. Years ago Ronald Reagan convinced America that we can have everything — good roads, bridges, schools, military, etc. — without, you know, actually paying for it. It was bunk then, and it is bunk now, and adults know it. Gov. Patrick knows it. It’s time the legislature grew a spine, grew up, and explained the facts of life to the people of the Commonwealth: we can’t grow the economy without a solid infrastructure base.

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