A quick review of headlines from the last week:
Thursday, June 6
Baker quietly puts political team together as he considers 3rd term
Saturday, June 8
At least 10 people injured in Green Line derailment near Kenmore
Tuesday, June 11
Red Line derailment at JFK/UMass snarls Tuesday commute
With MBTA trains derailing every few days, maybe Charlie Three Terms should focus more on his actual second term than a hypothetical third term. What he should be most concerned about keeping on track is decidedly not his gubernatorial tenure. In fact, it would be at least a tad reassuring if he pledged to not hold a single further political meeting, fundraiser, strategy session, or other such political event until he has a concrete plan in place to address the MBTA’s… um… what’s a polite way to say “perpetual s#!t-show?”
It appears that Saturday’s Green Line derailment happened because the operator ran a signal and rolled over a still-moving switch that was changing from the C-line to the D-line. A modern system, with automatic train control, would have prevented that derailment.
While I am disgusted by a third term of Mr. Baker, I think it’s important to note that the Massachusetts government was in exclusively Democratic hands from January of 2007 to January of 2015. That Democratic government did absolutely NOTHING to address the woes of the MBTA. NOTHING.
We Democrats have had an iron grip on the Massachusetts legislature for generations. The legislature sets tax and spending policy. We Democrats have a veto-proof majority in both houses. The needed tax and spending bills can be passed anytime we Democrats choose to do it.
The MBTA funding problem is ours. We Democrats created it, and only we Democrats can solve it.
I’m at pains to point out that Governor Patrick did more than nothing: He tried to raise $1.9 billion for the T. The legislature — Sen. President Murray and Speaker DeLeo, citing “squeezing the middle class”, agreed to a scant $500M.
(Oh, and then the voters, in their great wisdom, did away with the gas tax indexing to take away more $.)
There are Democrats, and there are Democrats.
Indeed. I appreciate you highlighting this, if only because I appreciate hearing the observation from you rather than repeating it again here myself. Any governor of any party, including Charlie Baker, who looks at Bob DeLeo’s response to Deval Patrick’s proposal will forget any thought of increased funding (and therefore taxes) for the MBTA.
We are deluding ourselves and others by complaining about Charlie Baker’s position on MBTA funding while Bob DeLeo continues to lead the MA legislature.
I didn’t mention this in my comment because:
1) My comment was already long and I’ve mentioned his failed proposal before
2) Nothing came of Mr. Patrick’s proposal
3) Mr. Patrick’s proposal came in 2013, near the end of his administration
4) Mr. Patrick was far more assertive — and successful — at promoting casino gambling.
Also, the statement “The MBTA funding problem is ours. We Democrats created it,” would be news to a certain former A&F Secretary under Bill Weld…
[emphasis added by me]
I’m well aware of the role Republicans played in creating the problem. The fact remains that they did so solely because we Democrats allowed it.
Democrats had a veto-proof majority in both houses of the legislature when this travesty happened. During the eight years of the Weld administration, the makeup of the MA House and Senate was:
Year: House Dem/GOP, Senate Dem/GOP
1991-92: 123D/37R, 24D/16R
1993-94: 124D/35R/1I, 31D/9R
1995-96: 125D/34R/1NP, 30D/10R
1997-98: 124D/35R/1I, 33D/7R
The threshold required to override a veto is 2/3 in each house — 107/27 in 1991/92. I grant you that a Senate override might have been tough in 1991/92.
We Democrats held similarly overwhelming majorities in each of the Republican administrations that followed the Weld administration.
Tax and spending bills originate in the House. A Democratic legislature that actually wanted to fund public transportation in general and the MBTA in particular could have done so in any of the last 25 years by voting for it and then overriding a gubernatorial veto.
We Democrats own this one, not the GOP.
Party does not matter to me. We can waste time playing the blame game or we can fix the problem. I’d be happy to vote for Baker and see DeLeo stay as Speaker if either of them got off their asses and moved on this issue. They aren’t though which is why primary challenges make more sense to me.
This isn’t about playing a blame game.
If the gas line is clogged, you can spend as much time and effort messing with the plugs, the wires, the tires, the ignition, the battery, and everything else under the hood and the car still won’t run. If the problem is a clogged gas line, the solution is to clear the gas line.
The problem here is the steadfast refusal of the Massachusetts legislature to fund the MBTA at sustainable levels. That problem has been in place for more than twenty years, and it is more than twenty years of overwhelming Democratic Party control of said legislature.
That’s not “blame game”, that is simple fact.
No governor of any party is going to fix this. It wasn’t fixed under GOP governors and it wasn’t fixed under Deval Patrick. It won’t be fixed by Charlie Baker, and it won’t be fixed by replacing Charlie Baker.
The only way to fix the problem is to change the Legislature. Strong primary challenges to incumbents who refuse to raise taxes and fund public transportation is an excellent start.