It’s not about the money,” Rosenberg said.
-Senate President Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst)
There’s someone who doesn’t love a high speed train.
Or more precisely, the idea of a high speed train.
As Masslive reports, this is the third time in three years that Senator Eric Lesser’s proposal for a study (a study, mind you, not a plan) has been spiked.
Not for lack of support.
The study proposal has garnered support across the state, at different levels of government, and between parties. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Reps Seth Moulton, Richard Neal, and Jim McGovern have all endorsed Lesser’s proposal. So have the entire state senate (38-0) and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
But the study was killed in the committee that reconciled the house and senate versions of the state budget.
Last year, it was Governor Charlie Baker, lobbied by Peter Pan bus magnate Peter “Pickles” Picknelly, who killed it. As Masslive notes, “Tensions with public rail are not new for Peter Pan. His father, Peter L. Picknelly, criticized Congress for “wasting money” to subsidize Amtrak rail service in 1972.” Buses, particularly those emblazoned with the boy who never grew up, provide the only mass transit from Western Massachusetts to Boston.
Picknelly claims he didn’t lobby against the proposal this year, though he admits to speaking with Sen. Donald Humason (R-Westfield) about it. Humason, however, voted to fund the proposal and joined Lesser on a “whistle stop tour,” taking a commuter rail from Boston to Framingham and then driving the rest of the way to Springfield’s Union Station, with stops along the way in Worcester and Palmer, to highlight the need for high speed rail. Reading Pickles’ lobbying denials, however, sound a bit like Donald Trump’s claims that he has no business with Russia.
The proposal was killed in the secretive conference committee negotiating the house and senate versions of the bill. This much we know. The questions of who killed it and why remain.
Conference committee members aren’t talking, but Senate President Stan Rosenberg says the killing of the feasibility study was not because of a funding issue, noting the study would have been a small part of the $40.2 billion budget. “We have to get to the bottom of why we’re having problems getting this study done,” he said.
Did Pickles Picknelly order a hit on high speed rail?
Picknelly’s denials to the contrary, smart money is betting he’s the provided the motivation for killing the study. But someone in the house was carrying water for him.
Does anyone know if ML Strategies consults for Peter Pan Bus Lines?
You know the likely culprit. I think progressives have to start realizing that the state level stuff isn’t really a left vs. right issue, but an insider vs. outsider issue. Defeating the Olympics shows what’s possible when the outsiders ban together. I really wish pushing positive issues like extending transit, expanding housing, and fixing education could galvanize the same kind of support.
And your former student is exactly the kind of candidate we need running for statewide office.
It’s the freakin’ house. The senate is pretty progressive, but the house is special interests and business, etc.
Part of me thinks we should call Peter Pan’s bluff and say, fine, if you want the monopoly on east-west transit, show us you can do a more efficient and less expensive job than the MBTA in a way that meets demand.
I wish we could call their bluff, but the fact is, Pickles would just continue to do what he does.
Dk about ML but a huge Baker and Neal donor
I went through the OCPF details. Recently, he loaded up the $ on GOP people with less going to Democrats.
Sounds like a job for Ernie!
The SoS web site does not show any entity registered to lobby on behalf of Peter Pan going back to at least 2013. However state law does not require a business to report hiring any individual or entity with whom they consult if said individual or entity does not make contact with the legislature or executive branch.
This provision is part of the same cloth that allowed Dempsey to take a job at ML despite a required one year cooling off period for ex-leigislators to lobby. His work will be considered “strategic consulting” for the first year he will be on the ML payroll. It allows him, like Trav, Murray and Havern before him to get paid, talk to clients, advise them on who the client should call or visit. It is not considered lobbying and does not require any reporting by either ML or any clients. Likewise, Peter Pan can receive advice and/or legal representation from ML or the growing number of one-stopping shopping political outfits and it need not be reported.
Nice work, if you can get it.
The First Amendment protects a whole heckuva lot of shit between people in power, and it protects the rest of us too. But they start with more power than we do.
There are reasons for not sharing the details of negotiations. Doing so protects them from being accused of shooting down particular items that may be used against them politically. My patience for the house, however, has worn very thin as of late.
Agreed. Dempsey was as bad a W&M chair as was DeLeo, which is why the appointment of Sanchez to replace him was such a surprise. Jeff is a genuine progressive, a decent man and a lot of fun, operating within the confines of HRH DeLeo’s reign. If he becomes the next Speaker, Massachusetts will be a better place.
Peter Pan’s Peter Pickles Picknelly?
Holy alliteration, Batman!
How many Pickles Picknelly does it take to pack a peck of political product in a Peter Pan bus?
Only one, because the former HW&M chair Dumpsey stuffed the rest of the House, letting him kill the study. Shame on the western MA House delegation.