POLL:  SCOTT BROWN, MARTHA COAKLEY ONLY 2 POINTS APART
Boston Herald, 1/13/10

A new poll in the special U.S. Senate election between Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Sen. Scott Brown shows the contest is shaping up to be a nail-biter.

The results of a Rasmussen telephone survey released yesterday found Coakley, a Democrat, capturing 49 percent of likely voters while her Republican opponent, Brown, is garnering 47 percent.

A Rasmussen poll released last week found Coakley leading Brown by a margin of 50 to 41 percent.

Rasmussen, however, notes the results of this week’s survey are not “precisely comparable” with the earlier results because this new poll included the independent candidate Joseph L. Kennedy by name. The pollster said the previous survey only offered a third choice of “some other candidate.”

The special election to replace the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is on Tuesday.

The poll said turnout is key and Brown’s voters “appear to be more energized.” Lower turnout favors Brown, the poll said.

The survey also found favorability views of the candidates are about the same. The poll said 59 percent of respondents have a favorable view of Brown and 58 percent have a favorable view of Coakley.

A majority of those surveyed believe Coakley will win.

The survey found 59 percent of voters expect victory for the AG, while 33 percent believe Brown will win.

SCOTT BROWN TARGETS MARTHA COAKLEY AS ROBOTIC LIBERAL DEMOCRAT
Boston Herald, December 23, 2009

State Sen. Scott Brown attempted to cast his Democratic opponent in the race for U.S. Senate as a tax-and-spend liberal who will sock suffering residents in the wallet, recycling a classic GOP strategy in a taped TV debate last night.

“She will be in lockstep, almost robotic, voting for every proposal that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Deval Patrick want,” said Brown, who used his first foray into televised debating to speak directly to viewers, eyeing the camera each time he responded and introducing himself to voters with a slick and polished style.  

But Coakley managed to get in some hits.

“We have Republicans in Washington who, like Scott, refuse to admit that there’s a problem and say, “There’s not climate change; we don’t have an economic recession; we don’t need health care. That to me is not the change that voters wanted or want now,” she said.

At times, Coakley also downplayed their differences, blunting Brown’s attempt to paint himself as an alternative for moderate and unenrolled voters.
“See Scott, you and I agree on something,” Coakley said at one point, noting both seemed to concur the “Cash for Clunkers” program was a mixed bag.

In addition to noting his military service, Brown, a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard, gave a window into his childhood.
Revealing that his mom was divorced and “we were on welfare,” he said, “Being an unwed mother is certainly a challenge.”

Yet Brown also had difficulty with consistency, on one hand assailing Coakley for failing to support her own party president on the troop surge in Afghanistan, while accusing her of being a rubber stamp.
Asked to clarify after the debate, Brown said Coakley’s opposition to the troop surge is in concert with the far-left of her party.
While Brown focused on sparring with Coakley, independent candidate Joseph L. Kennedy criticized Brown for his failure to back an income tax cut and his support of the Bay State’s health-care plan.

Asked about Kennedy’s targeting of him, Brown said after the debate, “I have to admit, I didn’t even notice.” Coakley has insisted that all debates feature Kennedy as well as Brown.

The hour-long debate was streamed live on the WBZ Web site and will air in a low-profile time slot - 8 a.m. the Sunday after Christmas on CBS4.

HACKED E-MAIL IS NEW FODDER FOR CLIMATE DISPUTE
New York Times, 11/21/09

Hundreds of private e-mail messages and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who say they show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change.

The e-mail messages, attributed to prominent American and British climate researchers, include discussions of scientific data and whether it should be released, exchanges about how best to combat the arguments of skeptics, and casual comments — in some cases derisive — about specific people known for their skeptical views.  Drafts of scientific papers and a photo collage that portrays climate skeptics on an ice floe were also among the hacked data, some of which dates back 13 years.

In one e-mail exchange, a scientist writes of using a statistical “trick” in a chart illustrating a recent sharp warming trend. In another, a scientist refers to climate skeptics as “idiots.”

Some skeptics asserted Friday that the correspondence revealed an effort to withhold scientific information. “This is not a smoking gun; this is a mushroom cloud,” said Patrick J. Michaels, a climatologist who has long faulted evidence pointing to human-driven warming and is criticized in the documents. 

Some of the correspondence portrays the scientists as feeling under siege by the skeptics’ camp and worried that any stray comment or data glitch could be turned against them. 

The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument. However, the documents will undoubtedly raise questions about the quality of research on some specific questions and the actions of some scientists. 

In several e-mail exchanges, Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and other scientists discuss gaps in understanding of recent variations in temperature. Skeptic Web sites pointed out one line in particular: “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t,” Dr. Trenberth wrote.

The cache of e-mail messages also includes references to journalists, including this reporter, and queries from journalists related to articles they were reporting. 

Officials at the University of East Anglia confirmed in a statement on Friday that files had been stolen from a university server and that the police had been brought in to investigate the breach. They added, however, that they could not confirm that all the material circulating on the Internet was authentic.

But several scientists and others contacted by The New York Times confirmed that they were the authors or recipients of specific e-mail messages included in the file. The revelations are bound to inflame the public debate as hundreds of negotiators prepare to negotiate an international climate accord at meetings in Copenhagen next month, and at least one scientist speculated that the timing was not coincidental. Dr. Trenberth said Friday that he was appalled at the release of the e-mail messages.

But he added that he thought the revelations might backfire against climate skeptics. He said that he thought that the messages showed “the integrity of scientists.” Still, some of the comments might lend themselves to being interpreted as sinister. 

In a 1999 e-mail exchange about charts showing climate patterns over the last two millenniums, Phil Jones, a longtime climate researcher at the East Anglia Climate Research Unit, said he had used a “trick” employed by another scientist, Michael Mann, to “hide the decline” in temperatures.

Dr. Mann, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, confirmed in an interview that the e-mail message was real. He said the choice of words by his colleague was poor but noted that scientists often used the word “trick” to refer to a good way to solve a problem, “and not something secret.”

At issue were sets of data, both employed in two studies. One data set showed long-term temperature effects on tree rings; the other, thermometer readings for the past 100 years. 

Through the last century, tree rings and thermometers show a consistent rise in temperature until 1960, when some tree rings, for unknown reasons, no longer show that rise, while the thermometers continue to do so until the present. 

Dr. Mann explained that the reliability of the tree-ring data was called into question, so they were no longer used to track temperature fluctuations. But he said dropping the use of the tree rings was never something that was hidden, and had been in the scientific literature for more than a decade. “It sounds incriminating, but when you look at what you’re talking about, there’s nothing there,” Dr. Mann said.In addition, other independent but indirect measurements of temperature fluctuations in the studies broadly agreed with the thermometer data showing rising temperatures.  Dr. Jones, writing in an e-mail message, declined to be interviewed. 

Stephen McIntyre, a blogger who on his Web site, climateaudit.org, has for years been challenging data used to chart climate patterns, and who came in for heated criticism in some e-mail messages, called the revelations “quite breathtaking.”

But several scientists whose names appear in the e-mail messages said they merely revealed that scientists were human, and did nothing to undercut the body of research on global warming. “Science doesn’t work because we’re all nice,” said Gavin A. Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA whose e-mail exchanges with colleagues over a variety of climate studies were in the cache. “Newton may have been an ass, but the theory of gravity still works.”

He said the breach at the University of East Anglia was discovered after hackers who had gained access to the correspondence sought Tuesday to hack into a different server supporting realclimate.org, a blog unrelated to NASA that he runs with several other scientists pressing the case that global warming is true. The intruders sought to create a mock blog post there and to upload the full batch of files from Britain. That effort was thwarted, Dr. Schmidt said, and scientists immediately notified colleagues at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit. The first posts that revealed details from the files appeared Thursday at The Air Vent, a Web site devoted to skeptics’ arguments. 

At first, said Dr. Michaels, the climatologist who has faulted some of the science of the global warming consensus, his instinct was to ignore the correspondence as “just the way scientists talk.” But on Friday, he said that after reading more deeply, he felt that some exchanges reflected an effort to block the release of data for independent review. 

He said some messages mused about discrediting him by challenging the veracity of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin by claiming he knew his research was wrong. “This shows these are people willing to bend rules and go after other people’s reputations in very serious ways,” he said.

Spencer R. Weart, a physicist and historian who is charting the course of research on global warming, said the hacked material would serve as “great material for historians.”

LIVELY DEBATE AS TIERNEY MEETS PUBLIC ON HEALTH REFORM
Salem News, 9/10/09

SALEM - Shouting and boos, as well as some cheers, punctuated U.S. Rep. John Tierneyss first face-to-face forum on health-care reform this morning.

About 100 people turned out at the Salem State College Mainstage Auditorium. Police officers were there in case the meeting got out of control, but although some yelled across the room at each other, no fights broke out.

"This is total control of our lives by the government,"said Connie Kennedy of Beverly, "and it is disgusting."

Sitting across the auditorium, Mitch Gart of Bedford shook his head at her comment and booed.

"I am in favor of the health-care bill," Gart said after the meeting. "It is a little scary how many negative people were in attendance. Most of the constituents in the area favor the bill, but it was the few people who aren't in favor of it who mostly showed up to voice their opinion."

National health-care reform, a priority of President Obama that's sparked heated debate at similar town hall-style meetings, was not the sole issue of discussion. Tierney gave a brief opening statement that touched on many issues, including energy, education, and the economy.

"We are looking at a very serious issue on health care, and doing nothing shouldn't be an option for us," the Salem Democrat said. "We pay twice as much for health care per person in this country, but we are not getting twice as much of the benefit from it."
Steve Falvey of Saugus was the first to speak and asked why America allows for-profit insurance companies to dominate health care.

"I agree that part of the problem is with insurance companies and the way they have been treating us for years," said Tierney. "There shouldn't be a case where a person is precluded because of preexisting conditions. Many of the companies are using more of the money from premiums for profit and salaries.

"This is one of the issues we are working on with this bill," Tierney said.

At one point, Bill Hudak of Boxford, a Republican challenger for Tierney's seat in 2010, stood up and challenged Tierney to a debate in front of the crowd.

Tierney denied the request by saying he doesn't know if Hudak will indeed be running against him because there is yet to be a primary.

"I think we all agree that everyone in America needs health care," said Hudak. "But where we have the big disagreement is on how to pay for it and who should be responsible for delivering it to the people."

Patrick Humphries of Bedford said he feels like health reform is being rushed.

"People aren't just dying in the streets," he said.

Tierney responded by saying that some 44,000 people die each year because of the lack of health insurance and that health care reform has been an issue since Harry Truman was president.

Over the summer, Tierney was criticized for not holding town hall meetings on health reform, instead conducting his talks via conference call. He closed yesterday's meeting by saying he appreciated the discussion despite the commotion during part of it.

"We had a debate, and that is the way it should be done," Tierney said. "These are large issues that need to be solved."

A second forum is scheduled for Monday, 7 to 8:30 p.m., in the cafeteria of the Berry Building at North Shore Community College in Danvers.

IN PEABODY, PROTESTERS FACE OFF OVER HEALTH CARE
Salem News, 8/14/09 by Matthew Roy

PEABODY — The health care debate raging across the country made a stop yesterday in Peabody Square.
Supporters of President Obama's push to reform the nation's health care system filled traffic islands and street corners at the intersection of Main, Foster and Central streets downtown. They showed up as a counterpoint to a rally planned by Bill Hudak, a Boxford lawyer frustrated that Congressman John Tierney has not held a town hall meeting on the issue.
"We are not here to talk about health care," Hudak said to a crowd of supporters standing outside Peabody District Court. "We are here to talk about (Tierney's) accountability to us."

Hudak, a Republican, has announced he will challenge Tierney, a Democrat from Salem, in 2010. He addressed the crowd through a megaphone, first standing on the bumper of a Ford Expedition, then on its roof.

"I called for this meeting because of the sincere concern that our voices were not being heard," Hudak said.

Minutes earlier, Hudak had walked across the street and passed the throng of reform supporters gathered along the sidewalk outside Tierney's district office. Inside, he asked Tierney's district director, Gary Barrett, if the congressman would commit to holding a meeting before health care legislation comes to a vote.

"We will adhere to our fall schedule," Barrett said.

That schedule, over Tierney's 13 years in office, routinely includes fall town hall meetings. Barrett said that he anticipated a meeting would be held in advance of a vote. In the meantime, Tierney will hold a "telephone town hall" on health care, a medium the congressman has said he likes because it can involve thousands of constituents.

Tierney was not in his office yesterday. Communications Director Catherine McKenna Ribeiro said the congressman was on a trip with his wife and grandchildren.

Elsewhere in the country, lawmaker-hosted town hall meetings have been testy and at times unruly affairs, with passion for the issue on both sides bubbling quickly to the surface.

Supporters yesterday held signs that said "Yes to the Public Option," "Just Say No to Status Quo" and "Insurance Profits are Bad for Health Care."

"We're here in support of President Obama and health care reform," Shari Wilkinson of Newburyport said.

Norman Parker of Amesbury said reform is needed to provide coverage to the millions of Americans who are now uninsured.

"As a moral issue, you can't turn away from that," he said.

Word of Hudak's rally spread over the Internet and motivated pro-reform activists from throughout the region and at least one union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, to make the trip to Peabody.

Philip Kuhn, a retired Harvard professor from Ipswich, said getting the country on solid economic footing depended on health care reform.

"The system doesn't work now," said Susan Strauss of Salem, a General Electric retiree.

Outside the courthouse, where Hudak's supporters stood, the signs read, "Mr. Tierney, why won't you listen to us?" "No meeting, no guts" and "Where is Tierney?"

"I believe that we should have a voice," Joyce Swanson of Saugus said. "I believe that we should be able to express our concerns."

"We're totally against the government takeover of health care," Pat Fusco of Rockport said.

Passing cars sporadically honked in support of both sides. And isolated but brief arguments broke out between individual members of each group.

Police kept a close eye on the activity. At 2 p.m., 90 minutes into the demonstrations, Capt. Joseph Berardino said that there had been no problems.

"They've followed every instruction that we've given them," he said.

TIERNEY WON'T HOLD TOWN MEETING ON HEALTHCARE
Salem News, 8/11/09, by Matthew K. Roy
 
Congressman John Tierney will discuss health care reform over the phone instead of at a town hall meeting, a forum that has drawn rowdy and disruptive crowds elsewhere in the country.
Tierney is opting for a "telephone town hall" to reach as large an audience as possible, not to avoid vocal opponents of proposed changes to the nation's health care system, he said. A meeting reaches 50 to 200 attendees, while a conference call set up so people can ask questions and hear responses over the phone can involve upward of 30,000 constituents, according to Tierney.

The Salem Democrat's choice has created an early line of attack for his Republican challenger in 2010.
"(Tierney) is a representative of the people in this district," lawyer Bill Hudak of Boxford said yesterday. "Why he is choosing not to speak with his constituents directly is a mystery to me."
Hudak is planning a rally outside Tierney's Peabody Square office on Thursday afternoon to pressure the congressman to hold a meeting.

"If we have enough people (there)," Hudak said, "then maybe he will see the light and see that people want to hear from him directly."
Hudak said he wants nothing more than a "civil and intelligent exchange of ideas."
Democratic lawmakers around the country have attempted to use their August recess to generate support for health care reform, a top priority of President Obama. The effort, however, has led to testy encounters with critics.

Congressmen James McGovern and Richard Neal of Massachusetts were booed and heckled at a forum in Worcester earlier this month, according to reports. Over the weekend in Iowa, Sen. Tom Harkin was interrupted several times by people in the audience shouting criticism and questions. A spokesman for Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina said the congressman had his life threatened by a caller upset that Miller was not holding a public forum.

Tierney and fellow supporters say that reform is long overdue, that the proposed changes would provide coverage for millions of people who are currently uninsured and make the health care system more efficient and affordable. Opponents are wary of governmental control of the system and say it would lead to the rationing of care.
"This is going to be what people are looking for," Tierney said of the health care overhaul during an interview last Wednesday. "You lose your job, you're not going to lose your health care."
Tierney called a telephone town hall "the best way to reach the public." His counterpart in the 5th district, Niki Tsongas, followed the same course, holding two telephone town halls at the end of last month, her Web site said.

Tierney will take questions over the phone sometime at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, he said.
In the meantime, the congressman has established a "clearinghouse of information" on health care on his Web site, responded to thousands of people who have contacted his office and provided caseworkers to speak one-on-one with constituents who have questions about their plans, Tierney's Communications Director Catherine McKenna Ribeiro yesterday said in a prepared statement detailing how the lawmaker is handling the health care issue.

Tierney held town hall meetings in the spring and will do so again in the fall, as is his practice, Ribeiro said.
Organizing for America, an extension of Obama's 2008 campaign, yesterday encouraged people to sign up to visit congressional offices and voice their support for insurance reform. President Obama is scheduled to discuss health care today at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H.

GOP’S BAKER LEAPS INTO RACE AGAINST PATRICK:  HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE'S ENTRY ALTERS 2010 DYNAMIC
Boston Globe, July 9, 2009, by Andrea Estes and Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Charles D. Baker Jr. announced yesterday that he will resign as chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to seek the Republican nomination for governor, a move that infused more drama into an already chaotic political week and paved the way for a potentially momentous 2010 campaign.

Baker, who has been seen by many of the party faithful as the leading Republican challenger, is planning to run a campaign that leverages his strong background in state government and his firsthand knowledge of the state’s healthcare system. He intends to challenge Governor Deval Patrick’s approach to the fiscal crisis and his collaboration with the Legislature to raise the sales tax.

“I’m in,’’ Baker, 52, said during a press conference yesterday at Babson College in Wellesley, several hours after informing the staff at Harvard Pilgrim of his plans. “I’m very well suited for this task. And I would regret it, for quite a while, if under such difficult circumstances I chose to sit id ly by and not participate.’’

Baker drew on the image of former governor William F. Weld, a socially liberal and fiscally conservative Republican, in describing his own candidacy. He deflected any questions about Patrick’s performance, though he did describe the state as being in “deep, deep serious, long-term trouble.’’

“My crystal ball isn’t telling me what the election in 2010 is fundamentally and ultimately going to be about,’’ Baker said. “But I can tell you right now, it ought to be about jobs and the economy and the business climate.’’

Though largely unknown to the general public, and without a compelling story like Mitt Romney’s performance running the Salt Lake City Olympics, Baker has an almost cultlike following among Massachusetts political insiders and the business elite. He is often cited for his low-key but firm approach to problems and a legendary grasp of complicated issues. Baker served as a senior aide to two Republican governors, Weld and Paul Cellucci, before taking the helm of Harvard Pilgrim, which he helped navigate from the brink of insolvency earlier this decade and put on solid financial footing.

“I consider myself a Baker Republican,’’ Weld said yesterday from New York, where he is in a private law practice. “When I was in office, I would turn to him in private after virtually every meeting and say, ‘What do you think we should do?’ I don’t recall he and I ever disagreeing. He knows more about government than I do or ever did.’’

Weld added: “I think I’m not taking anything away from any other candidate . . . but I think Charlie Baker is different. People with that much ability and that much devotion and that much sand and gravel don’t come along all that often.’’

Whether admiration among the powerful elite is enough to propel Baker into office is not clear. While his announcement injected new life into the dwindling ranks of a state GOP hoping to recapture the governor’s office, Baker faces significant hurdles. Among them: building a campaign fund large enough to overcome his low name recognition and persuading voters to elect someone to the highest office in Massachusetts whose sole electoral experience is as a one-term Swampscott selectman. In that last regard, there is precedent: Patrick had never held elective office, and neither had Weld.

Baker is far more likely to run on his experience with healthcare and his ability to run a major organization than anything else. He will also point to his time as state secretary of administration and finance under Cellucci and Weld, and as state secretary of health and human services under Weld, to highlight his ability to understand the workings of state government and the budgets that fund them.

Baker’s announcement was but one major event in another frantic day in Massachusetts politics. Earlier, state Treasurer Timothy Cahill stopped by Quincy City Hall to change his party affiliation from Democrat to unenrolled, a first step toward his own gubernatorial campaign.

Patrick, arriving at Logan after a brief visit to Washington, said of Baker, “I welcome him as I would Tim Cahill and any other candidate to the race - and warmly.’’

Christy Mihos, who has already declared his intention to seek the Republican nomination, was scheduled last night to speak to Republicans in Baker’s hometown of Swampscott.

“I’m sure it’s not a coincidence,’’ Cahill said of Baker’s announcement yesterday. “The fact that he announced today, the day after I made my announcement. . . . He may have said ‘Cahill’s in there; I might as well get in there, too.’’’

Baker, who said Cahill’s decision had nothing to do with his own, called supporters yesterday morning. He plans to leave the company July 17 and, after a weeklong family vacation, will launch a campaign committee.

Some Republicans were downright giddy about Baker’s decision to get in the race, and they, too, likened his campaign to that of Weld, whose victory in 1990 ended 16 years of Democrats in the corner office.

“I think a lot of people just breathed a big sigh of relief,’’ said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei, a Republican from Wakefield.

Baker spent eight years in state government in the Cabinets of Weld and Cellucci.

“We had tax cuts and fiscal discipline,’’ Cellucci said yesterday. “Now we’re back to a Democratic governor, and already we’ve had significant tax increases.’’

Baker flirted with a run for governor four years ago, almost mounting a challenge to Kerry Healey, then lieutenant governor, for the GOP nomination. Baker announced in August 2005 that he would not run because he and his wife, Lauren, decided that a campaign would put an “unfair burden’’ on their family. They have two teenage sons and a younger daughter.

By yesterday, Democrats were already seizing on Baker’s low name recognition as a key vulnerability.

“He exists in the political universe, but is a complete nonentity to real people,’’ said Michael Goldman, a Patrick supporter and Democratic political consultant at Government Insight Group. “We’re not talking about someone like Mitt Romney, who had run for Senate before and run the Olympics. People were begging him to come.’’

Even Jane Swift, the former GOP governor, said, “A lot of people don’t know him.’’

Baker has little experience in politics, with only his three-year term as selectman in Swampscott. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard College and a master’s degree in management, concentrating in public administration and finance, from Northwestern’s Kellogg School.

In the fight for the GOP nomination, Baker joins Mihos, a convenience store magnate from West Yarmouth who garnered 7 percent of the vote when he ran for governor as an independent in 2006. Mihos, who announced in April that he would run again in 2010 as a Republican, has hired Dick Morris, a well-known conservative political consultant and commentator.

Mihos characterized Baker yesterday as the pick of the party faithful and someone who is “big business and big government.’’

“I am not an institutional or an insider Republican,’’ Mihos said. “If that’s what they want, they have Charlie. I’m an outsider, a populist Republican. We’ll let the people see what they want.’’

Democrats and Patrick aides projected confidence, not only in their incumbent, but in the unfolding dynamics of the campaign. They suggested that Baker and Cahill would split the opposition vote and provide a clearer path for Patrick to reelection.

“It’s been a good week for Deval Patrick,’’ said Phil Johnston, former chairman of the state Democratic Party. “The right-wing base is effectively split, at least in two, maybe more.’’

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NEWS FROM “THE HILL”

Dear Fellow Republicans,

I appreciate the opportunity to update you on the various issues that the Massachusetts House Republican Caucus have been involved in but it has been quite busy up on the “Hill”.  We have been trying to defeat the many proposals that the Majority Party has been putting forth that we believe will keep us in this recession and in fact will make it worse.

As you know the Majority Leadership of the House proposed an initiative that would increase the sales tax by 25%.  This was outrageous!!  The Republican Caucus immediately denounced the proposal at a press conference that was attended by several news outlets in and around the Boston area. 
 
I have enclosed for your review links to some of the stories that came out of that news conference.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/gop_businesses.html
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1168417&format=comments#CommentsArea
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/19306414/detail.html
http://wbztv.com/politics/sales.tax.vote.2.996000.html
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Business/2009/04/27/Sales-tax-center-stage-of/1240848898.html
http://www.wickedlocal.com/essex/news/business/x126915158/Rep-Hill-joins-House-GOP-leadership-in-blasting-sales-tax-hike

These were just a few of the articles.  Regrettably, if you Google “sales tax increase” you will see many more relevant articles referencing Massachusetts.

Predictably, the Majority Party eventually passed this proposal.  However, it was not as easy as usual.  After heated debate, many of the Democrats actually voted with us!!!!!  Also, if you saw the polling of this issue, a majority of the citizens of the Commonwealth agreed with us and actually were repeating what the Republican Caucus had said at the press conference.  They believe, as we do, that raising the tax during these very dire times would only hurt the citizens of the Commonwealth as well as the businesses that are working hard to get us out of this recession.  Our biggest concerns with the increase in this tax is that citizens will venture to NH to shop and we will see increase sales over the internet thus putting a dent into our mom-and-pop businesses.

In other news, the House Republican Caucus debated real reforms in the budget deliberations.  If these “reforms” had been adopted the Commonwealth would have saved close to $300 million.  Only a handful of these proposals were adopted.  Obviously the Majority Party would rather tax before offer any reforms.  By the way, the ethics, transportation and pension reforms that the Democrats in the House keep taking credit for, still remain in Committee, NOT ON THE GOVERNOR”S DESK!!!!  Additionally, many members of our caucus offered other amendments during the budget debate that would have saved the Commonwealth hundreds of thousands of dollars.   Many of the reforms can be seen on our website at http://www.thecapitolviewlive.com/ 

Their slogan:  REVENUES BEFORE REFORMS
Our slogan:    REFORMS BEFORE REVENUES

What’s even more puzzling is the fact that even with the increase in the sales tax the budget that was ultimately adopted without Republican support is still out of balance by as much as $900 Million.  We brought this information to the floor but to no avail.

In closing, I hope you find this information helpful.  People are outraged!  This is the time to start getting the message out via cable and newspaper article.  As you will see through the articles that have been published, people are agreeing WITH US!!!  As always, do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information on any issues that we are facing.

With warm regards,

Bradford R. Hill
Minority Whip
Massachusetts House of Representatives

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