[NOTE – SIGNAL BOOST – “Die in” at the State House concerning 9C Cuts – message – Charlie Baker you have blood on your hands! 12/16/16 at 3PM despite the Polar Vortex bearing down on Boston] Christmas lights are floodlights and decorations are razor-wire at MCI Framingham – the sole women’s prison in Massachusetts – and as close to a state hospital for treating women who are impoverished, mentally ill, and addicted as Massachusetts can boast. Massachusetts dismantled its state mental hospital system, promising to pick up the slack by beefing up the Community Mental Health System – then dismantled the Community Mental Health System. Today, 70% of the women incarcerated in Framingham have mental health diagnoses – many with bipolar disorder and self-medicating via street drugs, so they are incarcerated mentally ill and addicted and with no other bed or treatment available than to be incarcerated. For a state that likes to pretend to being “liberal” or “advanced” MCI Framingham proves both to be a lie. It is a legislature that calls itself a liberal leader of the Democratic Party but leaves mentally ill mothers and fathers with almost no place to receive treatment so that more mentally ill people in this state are in prison than in a hospital, and no community mental health system and fewer services and supports for the destitute, the mentally ill, or the working poor every year. There is nothing to like about how Massachusetts treats the mentally ill or the working poor or families. Nothing at all. Merry Christmas – maybe EVERY member of the Massachusetts Legislature AND Governor Charlie Baker need visits from their own personal ghosts of Christmas past, so as to have a chance to repent and to change like Scrooge. For today, we have Scrooge Baker and the 9C cuts – and Scrooge-A-chusetts. [Cross posted on Occupy Boston FB]
Christmas at MCI Framingham Women’s Prison
God knows all about the failures of Scrooge-A-Chusetts, and the centuries long misstreatment of the “undeserving poor” beginning with the pilgrim poorhouses where so many women and children died. We could, and I believe should, do so much better. Those who have held power and neglected and balanced state budgets on the backs of the poor due to their hard, elitist hearts will, I believe, be held accountable for grinding the faces of the poor against the concrete of their hard hard hearts in the World Beyond.
And, of course, the Governorship. But at least our Governor has decency to admit he’s a Republican.
….if they voted to override the veto, and where they thought the money was coming from if they did. Surveys and predictions are not an acceptable answer, as they are no more accurate than political polling.
One nice thing about Mr. Finneran was that he used the Holland Amendment, where if you want an earmark, you had to identify what other program or line would be cut to fund it.
…but every once in a while you have to (gasp!) raise taxes since these things don’t pay for themselves while still being necessary.
If the legislature decides to use it.
Back in the Finneran era, another nice feature was that House 1, the House, AND the Senate all had to use the same gross budget figure. Now, all 3 can be different with the Senate (usually) saying we will have $46 millin to spend! while the House says, No – only $38…
Making conferencing a nightmare.
I don’t get why you all think it is OK to appropriate money you don’t have, and are not going to have DURING FISCAL 17. Agencies, businesses, anyone doing business with the government must budget,hire, fire, etc. based on what is appropriated. I sit on the board of an AAOA, and government funds are $38,00 in the hole for a crucial program after only 2 months (Federal fiscal year). Services provided, money not there.
Raising taxes, progressive taxation, all that stuff – CANNOT HAPPEN THIS FISCAL YEAR. But the Governor must balance the budget to match receipts BY STATUTE. It really is the single most cowardly trend among progressives, to criticize somebody trapped in actual instead of virtual reality.
I see the cuts, largely on the backs of the poor, as cowardly and not part of the Commonwealth.
What can he do?
Maybe not give massive tax breaks to GE, maybe not say ‘message received’ on the film tax credit and actually force DeLeo to own something on the Hill. The legislature isn’t blameless, especially the House. They have bought into the ‘taxed enough already’ myth as well as the ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ myth.
Massachusetts is actually one of the most fiscally conservative states in the country and is well managed and well run. Compared to my current home Illinois where statutory pension obligations won’t be met and the Public Schools are considering Chapter 11 to fund basic school supplies, and Massachusetts isn’t this Stalinist centralized hell hole you and the Pioneer Institute make it out to be.
We can surely find $98 million of additional revenue somewhere in the budget and use it to plug these holes. Maybe ending the fiscally irresponsible ‘sales tax holiday’ for just this year. Maybe suspending corporate tax breaks for the fiscal year. Maybe raising some taxes that could be collected this fiscal year. Maybe having a Cannabis Commission set up to make projected revenues for next year.
No one is saying the legislature is courageous. But to say the Governor has his hands tied when he is bragging to Pioneer and taking the rare praises from Howie for standing up to the ‘welfare cheats’ and making ‘bold cuts’ and you can’t tell me this isn’t an ideological choice Baker is making.
Be a conservative and own it. Own the cuts and say it’s what Reagan would do and small government is the solution and big government is the problem. But this is exactly the result of both parties, including our last Governor IMO, buying into the starve the beast taxed enough already narrative rather than making a direct case to the public that taxes on the wealthy and corporations should go up so we can fix the T, fix our schools, fix our roads, and help build higher density housing.
If you can prove to me the cuts are unavoidable this year and there isn’t any way we can raise new revenues or cut giveaways, than I will concede your point about this fiscal year is valid. That still doesn’t invalidate my argument that cutting our way to prosperity isn’t an ideological choice, and one every Republican governor and too many Democrats in the legislature have agreed to. Didn’t work out for Kansas. Illinois is the other extreme of borrowing to avoid spending cuts, but our public sector isn’t guaranteed pensions by our constitution.
Can the Governor ‘make’ the Legislature do a DAMN thing, except perhaps make them leave the building if he sets it on fire?
Projected (ha!) cannabis revenues can’t be spent before next June and that is when FY 17 ends.
But you KNOW that. And still just pitch red herrings to attack the Gov for the deceptive behavior of the legislature giggling as they try to get enough bullet points for the next election by overriding vetoes to force Baker to make cuts Maura can use in her TV commercials.
They may destroy a few agencies and lives in the process, but hey, omelette and eggs baybee.
Democratic wrongs don’t make Baker rights. The legislature clearly wants tax cuts and spending increases which is why I am glad our balanced budget amendment is there to prevent the kind of creative accounting or budgeting by ballot initiative that got Illinois and California in trouble. Jerry Brown when facing a deficit made painful cuts but also asked millionaire to pay their fair share.
I’d take Baker more seriously if he made cuts this year and endorsed the progressive tax to invest in our state down the road. He won’t since he wants the cuts, because he is ideologically against expanding government. Aren’t you as well? Again, he has more integrity than the legislature since he’s at least honest that he doesn’t believe in these programs.
But the legislature hasnt been willing to make these investments either. You don’t see me letting them off the hook. Maybe if 20,000 more voters cared about state government we’d have a third option between these two bad ones. But we don’t do we?
He can’t boldly take the credit for GE and joke about preserving the film credit in his State of the State and then cry poverty today. That’s not leadership either. They all clapped so their hands are dirty too. But these are cuts are choices not necessities.
Dems fail and it’s their own fault, uip fails and it’s because voters don’t care about state government. Very interesting.
And as to that – the electeds who choose to call themselves “Dems” may or may not have any core goal overlaps with me, or those who were “Dems” during my formative years in the 1960s. What the current crop of legislators have done that I consider a fail – and they may not – is treat the destitute, the poor, and the working poor as expendable, so that whether they live or die, these legislators appear not to give a damn. That was not the Democratic Party of my youth. In decommissioning state mental health hospitals rather than improving them, and then dismanteling the community reducing state revenue by billions and enhancing corporate welfare – I can no longer feel I have core values or core goals in common with these folks. And the failure to overturn the removal of the legislature from FOIA and procurement regs that were trashed in the 1970s – oh well, I could go on. So I give them a failing grade, yes – when government fails to protect the vulnerable, the fragile, children, and the environment for future generations, that so-called government is not serving the public good and has failed.
uip=United Independent Party. Not trying to be obscure, though perhaps minimal. Just trying to make a side point about opposing standards on display for assigning blame for political failure.
Not defending dems, certainly not the state leg. To your point, can’t say it’s a political fail as they easily could have passed the things good things you mentioned…leg leaders clearly haven”t wanted to. Agree that it is a failure of governance.
jconway was referring to when he said if 20,000 more voters cared about state politics there would be a third option. My comment was referring that comment.
And on that you will hear the defense that “as bad as this is, it would be worse with Republicans in charge!”….
We really ought to tar and feather people who use that line and run them out of the party.
The organizers know a polar arctic weather event is happening then too, but I am told the date WILL NOT be changed. Here is the post from their facebook event: Governor Baker’s action today cuts important programs, including approximately $6 million in reductions to homelessness and housing, $1.9 million in cuts to substance abuse prevention programming, $900,000 in cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services, and $400,000 in cuts to services for terminally ill children
“Today, we are acting to put the budget back in balance for the hardworking people of Massachusetts ” Kristen Lepore, Baker’s budget chief
These budget cuts threaten programs that assist some of the most vulnerable communities in the state.
Pulling funding from these services puts lives at risk.
Let us remind them of that.
We as citizens will not allow these actions to go unnoticed.
We will be heard.
The event is open to all
Solidarity.
I will be updating as time goes on!!!
https://www.facebook.com/events/228440847580180/