Brown's Policies 'Border' on Liberalism

Scott Brown-Debt Bill, a photo by rbtenorio on Flickr.

Well, the debt-ceiling bill has finally passed -- with help from MA Sen. Scott Brown, one of the Republicans who voted for it in the Senate. Satan explores the nuances of his vote in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Brown, Kerry Are 'Rainbow Brite'

Leprechaun Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Massachusetts' two US Senators were both front and center in different venues on Sunday. Democrat John Kerry went on "Meet the Press" to sound statesmanlike about Libya ... while Republican Scott Brown went to the St. Patrick's Day Breakfast to tweak his fellow Bay State pols.
Who suggested the Sunday destinations to the two senators? Maybe it was the fellow in the background playing the Uilleann pipes ... in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Can Deval Tap Into Right Outlets?

Wrentham, Massachusetts, is not only home to GOP Sen. Scott Brown ... it's home to a storied collection of outlet stores. It is these "outlet voters" -- the suburbanites and exurbanites of southern and central Massachusetts -- who will tell the final story of the Bay State governor's race in 2010.
Outlet voters swarmed to the Republican checkout line to vote for two popular members of their party in the last 10 years: Mitt Romney in the governor's race in 2002; and Brown in the special election for Senate earlier this year. Both candidates won.
You see the power in these outlet voters when you watch them at non-political events, from shopping at the IKEA in Stoughton to cheering on the Pats at Gillette Stadium. It was these outlet voters that the great New York Times columnist David Brooks unconsciously evoked when he penned his great paean to the exurbs back in the George W. Bush era. (Yes, their counterparts nationwide loved Dubya.)
For Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat who represents everything the outlet voters dislike -- taxing the rich to help the poor, more social services, increased government in general -- the key to winning this election is straight out of the Sun Tzu playbook: If an enemy is strong, avoid them. I'm predicting and hoping Patrick -- who represents more of what I like than Republican rival Charlie Baker -- will avoid them enough to win this race.
He has avoided them in one way by not stirring up their wrath like fellow Democrats in the past. Former state treasurer Shannon O'Brien offended their sensibilities when she joked about having a tattoo ... paving the way for Mitt's win eight years ago. Current state AG Martha Coakley slandered Fenway Park and Curt Schilling, double no-nos that cost her brownie points against Brown. Deval has played it more prudently.
He also has the fortune of a spoiler in the race, current treasurer Tim "Pick Six" Cahill. Polls report a consistent six percent for the independent from Quincy, which is sort of in the northern hemisphere of the South Shore outlet belt. Cahill's Andrew Jackson-like populism -- in debates, he spoke up for the spoils system and likened his style to the Founding Fathers' -- may resonate with outlet voters who'd otherwise go for Baker.
There are, of course, pitfalls. Patrick seems to have all but written off courting outlet voters directly, ceding the attack-ad space to Baker during sporting events on TV and talk radio. (Kudos to Coakley and Democratic auditor candidate Suzanne Bump for not following the governor's example here.) This puts a lot on Cahill's shoulders, and Cahill does not seem to have any ads during these times either. Worse yet, the treasurer has run an opera-buffa campaign that overshadows the candidate's decent performance in the debates.
Still, Patrick may have done just enough to outmaneuver the outlet voters and get the rest of Massachusetts to vote for him today.

MA Governor's Race: Mediocrity vs. Shortsightedness

Governor Patrick, you are a tough person to support. I will do so anyway, because your opponent, Charlie Baker, makes you look a little bit better.
Patrick and Baker are neck-and-neck in this Massachusetts governor's race, with Patrick's neck being a tad taller as of October 27. In a Rasmussen poll from that day, Patrick outpolled Baker 46 percent to 44. I hope that lead stands on Election Day.
Four years ago, Patrick was an intriguing insurgent, beating out Democratic Party rivals who were more establishment (Tom Reilly) or more big-money (Chris Gabrieli) and then a Republican who combined a bit of both (Kerry "Muffy" Healey). Yet as he defends his incumbency, it's clear that his administration has not lived up to its promise.
He has not delivered on the property-tax reform he promised ... and he's added new taxes to an economically hurting Commonwealth. He also fought a protracted war on a casino issue that seems like a shortsighted way to bring more dollars to Massachusetts.
That said, he does have some accomplishments to point to. He passed the politically unappetizing but pragmatic CORI reform. He's fought for green jobs in the wind industry that look more sensible in the wake of the BP oil spill. He took on the police unions in another battle, this one on flaggers, and emerged with a victory of sorts.
When I met Patrick at the State House on Inauguration Day in Boston in January 2007, he seemed positive and welcoming -- not just to me, but also to all the citizens of Massachusetts who stood in line to greet him that day. It seems that he has kept that sense of optimism despite the economic difficulties that began in the fall of 2008 ... and it is that hopefulness which strengthens Patrick's case for reelection.
In my spare time I draw cartoons about a modern-day Faust and the devil, and Baker has certainly made his own share of temptations for voters: Cut state government ... cut taxes ... cut spending projects. These seem even more misleading than Patrick's past promises to cut property taxes. Both of these Big Government/Big Business veterans know that government has been trending bigger, not smaller, over time ... and the tax increases did not begin with Patrick but rather with the "fee hikes" of his GOP predecessor, Mitt Romney.
Patrick deserves a second four years on Beacon Hill. But really Deval, I hope four years from now there'll be more achievements to tout than windmills and orange flags.

3 Or Not 3, That Is the Question

Question 3 Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Ballot question 3 in Massachusetts would cut the state sales tax if passed (by a few percentage points). Would the gain to consumers be offset by losses to education and police funding? Satan and Frank Faust weigh the pros and cons in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Yoga Parking Tickets in Cambridge

Cambridge Parking Ticket Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

The city of Cambridge, Mass. has adopted a new twist for its parking tickets: They now come with yoga instructions. Thanks to the input of a 2010 resident artist, tickets depict meter reader and parking violator as a silhouetted pair performing yoga together. "Breathe out, reach back to give and receive the citation," a sample ticket reads.
This project, titled "Citation Salutation," is described as "an alternative method of giving and receiving parking citations." It comes off as more shallow than enlightened. The city didn't do anything to truly relieve stress ... like reducing the fines ... or the late penalties that are rather Draconian, such as potential seizure of a motor vehicle.
It is up to Satan to suggest "an alternative method" of reacting to yoga parking tickets in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Charlie Baker's Constructive Criticism

Mass Construction Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

If you've driven in Massachusetts lately, you've noticed there's an awful lot of construction projects going on. Charlie Baker, the GOP candidate for governor here, says we've got to rein them in, while Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick wants to give them free rein. Satan praises Baker's constructive criticism to Frank Faust in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Cahill: Andrew Jackson from Quincy

The four candidates for governor of Massachusetts tangled on Tuesday night in a televised debate. Independent Tim Cahill looked the best in this quartet.
Cahill distanced himself from both Democrat incumbent Deval Patrick and Republican challenger Charlie Baker. "Charlie blames the governor, and the governor blames Charlie," Cahill noted at one point. Later, he said, "Ten years (from now), in another subsequent debate, someone will be blaming (someone) for something else." Comments like these, plus his Boston accent, helped Cahill portray himself as a sort of Andrew Jackson from Quincy, the plain-spoken common man telling it like it is.
And he did tell it like it is. Cahill came out against public binge spending -- "No more $200 million high schools" -- in the wake of the extravaganza in Newton. When Baker brought up patronage, Cahill provided historical perspective. "The GOP loaded up Massport on the eve of 9-11," he said. "They stuck up for patronage."
All of this would come off better if Cahill hadn't dumped his own party after serving as treasurer to run against his former boss Patrick as well as Baker and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein. Still, Cahill scored some successes in the debate. Even if he doesn't win, the Andrew Jackson from Quincy has made a good impression in this race.

Parking Meters, Take a Holiday

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has already proposed a sales-tax holiday for the Bay State’s financially strapped citizens. How about a parking-meter holiday, too?
Imagine driving down Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge at lunchtime, seeing a tantalizing pizza place and a parking spot right outside it, and -- oops! -- having no change for the meter. Not only are you out of a lunch option, but the pizza place owner has missed out on a client, and the state is out of some tax revenue.
The big cities of the Bay State, places like Cambridge, Boston and Somerville, create a culture of unfriendliness with their legions of parking meters, some of which allow parking for a maximum time of as low as 15 minutes. Many meters allow only quarters, and oftentimes one quarter is only good for 15 minutes. Motorists who park in metered spots must constantly check their watches, interrupting their lunch to run back and put more change in the meters. And even then, they might get fined for an overtime violation.
I call on Gov. Patrick to push for a parking-meter holiday -- a stretch when motorists can park in metered spots at no charge -- to provide a hassle-free environment for drivers, and potentially more revenue for business owners. It would represent a small but significant easing of stress on drivers who already have to pay for gas and maintenance.
Granted, there might be a few wrinkles to iron out. Some drivers might abuse the privilege, parking in metered spots all day during the holiday and depriving peers of the opportunity to use the space. Perhaps Patrick could adopt a set of rules that stipulate that during the holiday, all metered spots would change to a minimum of one hour’s free parking (if the meter normally runs for one hour or less) with a maximum of two hours’ free parking (if the meter normally exceeds one hour), with normal ticketing policies in place for drivers who park beyond the allotted time.
As constituted, parking meters represent an additional tax on motorists that, while small in monetary value, is still unpleasant … kind of like the impositions that King George III, his Parliament and Govs. Bernard and Hutchinson of the Massachusetts Bay Colony wanted the colonists to pay over stamps and tea. Our present-day governor, Patrick, should not ignore the promising possibility of a parking-meter holiday as he battles for reelection.

Too Much Construction in Massachusetts

When President Obama announced his stimulus plans for the US economy, he might have envisioned himself as a 21st-century FDR, buffering employment through a modern-day Works Progress Administration of federal and state government projects.
Yet there is a hidden cost to such laudable efforts … the cost of annoyance to the state residents who actually have to put up with so much construction.
My home state of Massachusetts, for example, has become a cesspool of construction jobs big and small. In the morning, North Cambridge residents wake up to the soothing sound of jackhammers as workers tear up city streets. Afternoon dog-walkers must hurry past huge clouds of dust forming near Route 16 and pass unsightly views of uprooted trees near the Alewife T station. Police cruisers and construction vehicles make major highways (95 South, for instance) seem like Dante’s Inferno with their blinding lights and Cerberus-like presence at night.
I will admit that there is a place for construction. Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel taught me this as a kid. And as someone who’s been in cars on potholed streets in other countries (such as, I must admit, in my father’s native city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico), I know how bad it is to leave public property in poor condition. Yet Massachusetts is overdoing it. It seems that everywhere you look, you see an orange-and-white construction drum, an orange cone, and the flashing lights of police cruisers.
It is time for Gov. Deval Patrick to curtail the construction. It adds to noise pollution, it represents a distraction for drivers, and as those who watched the Big Dig slouch towards completion, it will never end, not so long as there are patronage positions to fill. Patrick made a courageous stand against one segment of the Augean stables when he took on police details, despite resistance by the political machine. Now, for the sake of state residents, he needs to try again.
History has too often celebrated people who like to build things … King Hezekiah erecting walls around Jerusalem … the Romans with their highways, baths and aqueducts … Baron Haussmann spreading out the streets of Paris for Napoleon III. Obama may want to join that lustrous list and stand up for those who are out of work, but Patrick should stand up for an equally deserving constituency -- those who have to deal with the inconvenience of such work -- and cut down the construction projects. I hear those casinos and wind farms could offer some nice employment alternatives.

Farewell to the Boston Accent

When Boston was still revered as the “Athens of America,” a popular ditty spread about the capital of Massachusetts being “The home of the bean and the cod,/Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots/And the Cabots talk only to God.”
Times have changed since those halcyon days. In recent decades, if the Cabots, the Lowells, and the Deity were to converse, they’d staht talkin’ with the dropped ahz and gees that so cleahly mahk the Bostin accent. It is this more contemporary cadence, not the eloquence of Emerson or Amory, that has characterized the city.
Now that, too, is changing. In all walks of life in Boston, the accent seems to be slowly decreasing from the parlance of citizens. The wait staff at restaurants … people you meet while dog-walking … the folks at the laundromat. They talk just like regular Americans do.
This represents a dramatic change. In its 20th-century political past, Boston was characterized by the distinctive discourse of its prominent public officials such as the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. And indeed, visitors to Boston’s Logan International Airport will still be greeted by the equally memorable voice of Mayor Thomas M. “Mumbles” Menino on the public-address system. Yet the new political stars of the city are often eschewing the accent, such as Sen. Scott Brown, who won Kennedy’s old seat in a Senate surprise this year. While Brown has emphasized his working-class background, his rhetoric shows that he has toned down the accent.
Perhaps we’re now pronouncing our r’s and g’s out of sudden self-consciousness. The rest of the country has noticed the Boston accent, but its reaction has evolved. At first our fellow Americans thought it was cool, given the positive response to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in “Good Will Hunting” at the end of the past century. Now, it seems, our fellow Americans view it as over-the-top. Witness the marketing minds of MTV determined to recreate the success of “Jersey Shore” with a Boston version.
Maybe the disappearance of the accent is also related to the growth of immigrant communities in Massachusetts who do not absorb the townie inflections when learning English. Perhaps it’s connected to the college kids from out-of-state who stay in Boston after graduation and keep their Ivy League speaking style.
While I applaud and encourage the linguistic diversity Boston now enjoys, however, I can’t help but hope that the accent stays in some form or another. In a nation homogenized by chain stores and conglomerates, it would add insult to injury if all Americans started speaking the same, too. Accents are one way regions can preserve their uniqueness. May the Boston accent, even with a reduced usage, live long and prospah.

Bay State H20 Hijinx

H20 Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

What caused Saturday's water main break in the greater Boston area? Faulty construction? A minor earthquake? Maybe Gov. Deval Patrick should investigate another possible cause ... one from down below ... Read more in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Massachusetts' Big Gamble

Gambling in Massachusetts, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Massachusetts is still considering bringing gambling casinos to the state, and Satan and Frank Faust discuss the pros and cons in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Health Care Costs 'Taxing' Obama, Dems

President Obama's new health care reform plan shows that the history of American health care is as big an obstacle to Obama and the Democrats as is the Republican opposition.
"Officials said the president’s bill was expected to include a version of the Senate’s proposed tax on high-cost, employer-sponsored insurance policies," the New York Times reported.
Ouch. So much for employers getting behind the bill. For it was tax breaks, not tax hikes, that spurred employer-based coverage in the past century.
"In 1943, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that employer-based health care should be tax free," NPR reported. "A second law, in 1954, made the tax advantages even more attractive."
The problem for Obama seems to be where to find the $900 billion that would insure about 30 million Americans by 2019. Taxing employer-sponsored policies is a shortsighted solution, as it would remove one of the incentives for employers to offer health care.
Then again, it's not like there are many more appealing ways. Look at what my home state, Massachusetts, did to fund near-universal care.
"Democrats have already hiked the fines for people who don't obtain insurance under the 'individual mandate,' already increased business penalties, taxed insurers and hospitals, raised premiums, and pumped up the state tobacco levy," the Wall Street Journal noted. "That's still not enough money."
Still, if Obama wants to pass health-care reform, he has to find funding alternatives to taxing businesses. If those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes, those who go against health-care history are doomed to make even worse mistakes.

Scott Brown's Momentum Snowballs

Scott Brown Victory Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Republican State Sen. Scott Brown has gassed up the truck, stunned the Massachusetts Democratic establishment and won the special election for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. What to do next? Why, have a fun-filled snowball fight with Satan and fellow GOP demons in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Scott Brown: The Beefcake Candidate

Scott Brown Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

Scott Brown, one of three candidates for the Jan. 19 special election for US Senate in Massachusetts, is running on a muscular GOP policy. How, then, will voters react to the news that he posed for beefcake photos in his law-school days? Find out in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

Romney's Republican Socialism

Into the breach of the health-care debate stepped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Monday morning -- and he took a stance that blended conservatism with socialism.
Before then-Gov. Romney helped pass a bill mandating Massachusetts residents to obtain health insurance in 2006, "a lot of people who were able to buy (insurance) just went to the hospital (emergency room)," Romney said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on WRKO-AM (680). "We said, 'No more free riders.'"
This came off as conservative chutzpah from a one-term governor (2003-07) who failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and whose support of statewide health insurance could further hurt his presidential prospects in 2012. For it sounds like Romney is playing defense by casting his cooperation with the Democratic-dominated state legislature in a Republican light as his party tilts ever more to the right on health care.
Laura seemed like she wasn't buying it, telling Mitt, "Sometimes experiments do fail" and that the bill was "not exactly the way I'd have fashioned it." She did concede that "I do like this state's trying new ways of going about things."
And it sounds like even Romney's would-be heirs in the Bay State are abandoning his standard. Romney noted that State Sen. Scott Brown, the GOP candidate in the special election for Ted Kennedy's former US Senate seat, was "one of those who supported the bill." Something tells me that Brown, sounding ever more conservative with an election looming on Jan. 19, won't appreciate Romney's bringing up the past. (Especially since on his own campaign website, Brown says he supports the 2006 Massachusetts health-care law.) And neither will the national Republican party, no matter how much Romney spins it.

Mass. Dem Senate Primary: Personal Perspectives

One week from today, voters in my home state of Massachusetts will winnow the field of candidates for the Senate seat held until earlier this year by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. The primaries for Democrats and Republicans take place next Tuesday.
I've seen two of the Democratic candidates for the seat up close -- Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman Michael Capuano. When I met Coakley at a Democratic State Committee meeting last year, she came off as very approachable for a member of the press. Capuano, whom I heard at an appearance at Harvard 10 years ago, when I was an undergrad and he was beginning his first term in Congress, seemed blunter. Addressing an audience of students, he stressed that selflessness, not ego, should motivate people to enter politics.
Seems like voters find the styles of both Coakley and Capuano preferable to the two other Democratic candidates, Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca and City Year head Alan Khazei. In a poll last Tuesday, Coakley led all Democratic candidates with 36 percent, followed by Capuano (21), Pagliuca (14) and Khazei (14). We'll see if these results hold true on primary day.

State and community colleges need support

The political leaders of my home state of Massachusetts -- Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Sal DiMasi -- want to make budget cuts due to a worsening economic situation. One area that could be affected is state and community colleges.
Budget cuts, which Patrick will announce at 5 p.m. today, "could trigger ... tuition hikes at public colleges and universities," the Boston Globe reports. "(Higher) education administrators are scrambling to reduce spending after receiving word from state officials that their subsidies will be cut by an estimated 5.6 percent."
Patrick, Murray and DiMasi should leave state and community colleges untouched. The young people of Massachusetts, whose parents may face uncertain job prospects, need affordable educational venues. Attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst or Bunker Hill Community College keeps tuition bills down -- and increases the likelihood that undergraduate talent will stay in Massachusetts after graduating. The fact that state and community colleges offer such excellent academic centers as the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History and Culture at UMass-Boston is an added incentive.
I call on Patrick, Murray, and DiMasi to avoid making any cuts to this vital section of the state budget, and encourage anyone else so concerned to do the same.