Judy Meredith's blog

State House Notes

Submitted by Judy Meredith on August 4, 2010 - 3:40pm

Just when I was getting sick of the endless analysis of the political ramifications of the casino/racino roll calls and the "Who won and who lost" stories, I found this cartoon in our ONE Mass News Roundup:

And here we are as a Commonwealth, as the Mass Budget and Policy Center reports, asking for stuff to be fixed, that were self imposed by tax and budget decisions that severely impact a wide range of social services, local aid, environmental protection programs, resulting in deep cuts and thousands of layoffs of human service workers, public safety officers, youth development programs and even our most basic civil systems - our court system that affects every one of us, including these two elderly women trying to find help for a friend.

And "we" through our Legislature and our Governor supported a tax holiday that will take some 16 million from our revenues - according to Noah Berger of Mass Budget and Policy Center. They made fun of us in Rhode Island and national experts in USA Today dismissed our tax holiday" as a political gimmick. Gaurgh!!

State House Notes

Submitted by Judy Meredith on July 19, 2010 - 4:39pm

Greetings!

Thirteen days to go before the end of the session and that's counting weekends, according to Jim O'Sullivan of the State House News Service published in Gatehouse News, and there is a long list of things to do.

Nobody, I mean nobody, knows enough about what's really going on to predict the outcome, and everybody, I mean everybody with a personal interest or material investment is trying to figure it out. Even the Governor, and he's getting pretty testy:

There are a lot of messages being sent through what someone described as carrier pigeons,'' he said. "There has to be some conversation directly with the principals.''

Murray, DeLeo, and Patrick did meet for dinner on Thursday at Avila, a Mediterranean restaurant not far from the State House, according to Seth Gitell, DeLeo spokesman. DeLeo and Murray met again Monday, but without Patrick. And the governor and DeLeo spoke by phone yesterday, he said.

"It's my impression the parties have been dealing with each other effectively,'' said Charles A. Murphy, a Burlington Democrat and the House Ways and Means Committee chairman. "They have been meeting regularly, and we're all optimistic a compromise will be reached.'' [Full Article: Boston Globe]

Charlie Murphy doesn't have to rely on "carrier pigeons" since he is directly involved in most of the negotiations but we think even he has trouble keeping track...

State House Notes

Submitted by Judy Meredith on July 6, 2010 - 4:47pm

While the wheels of the state government have been turning slowly, they have not been grinding exceedingly fine. Big differences between the House, the Senate and the Governor's office are yet to be resolved as the House ponders the Governor's veto message, the Senate's casino-but-no-slots bill, not to mention the various conference committee reports including CORI and never mind that the Governor has gone public in the State House News Service, with his determination to literally throw his weight around on the casino conference committee:

PATRICK PLANS 'ACTIVE' ROLE IN GAMBLING CONFERENCE COMMITTEE: Gov. Deval Patrick said Friday he expects to be "active" in negotiations between the House and Senate on a proposal to approve expanded gambling in Massachusetts, as lawmakers and state officials plot a course to the July 31 end of formal business. "I want to see what sort of compromise the House and Senate start to move to and I'm going to put down my own marker about some of the things that I'm looking for in the final bill," he said. Patrick reiterated his support for a "limited number" of resort-style casinos - "I don't think there's anything magic about two or three. I think three is the maximum" - as well as his coolness to racetrack slots, which he said don't have the job-creating potential of gambling resorts. Patrick said he believes officials should negotiate with local Native American tribes over commercial licenses, and he said casinos should be spread across Massachusetts to maximize tourism markets. Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen) said the end-of-session "time crunch" increases the importance of collaboration between the governor, House and Senate. "Unlike other conference committees, this one needs to be the trifecta," he said.

Oh dear, where does he sit?

What in the world was going on at the State House last night?

Submitted by Judy Meredith on July 30, 2009 - 10:39am

Dear Hecate

I work for a church sponsored program to help political refugees get settled in the United States. We help them get their papers in order, find safe homes, get jobs and find health care.

When it comes to finding health care our most helpful partners are community health centers, who really strive to hook us up with culturally competant providers and translators and we have been very grateful for their care and compassion and happy theat they were getting payed for their work.

We were dismayed when the Legislature cut access to health care for legal immigrants, relieved when the Governor submitted a half a plan and dismayed when the Legislature announced they had cut that half a plan in half again!!

What is going on? We've already been in contact with our Reps and Senators about this and the Governor's office as well. Do you have any advice about what we should do next?

Waiting for Advice