Weekly round-up: Democracy in inaction
A late state budget will not bring government to a screeching halt
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The state budget is late.
No, government will not be coming to a screeching halt. Republicans in the Legislature are not howling at Democrats for playing roulette with constituent services. And, yes, a deal is expected sooner rather than later.
Massachusetts is still not Washington D.C.
But the state budget is late, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo wants everyone to know, as they prepare to celebrate America's 239th birthday this weekend, that their elected officials are actually doing exactly what they were elected to do.
"They're representing their constituents and if they feel strongly enough that certain things should be in the budget or shouldn't be in the budget and they let the conference committee know, then that's what democracy is all about. Maybe it may not be the cleanest. Maybe it might take a little longer. But I still think it's the best this world has to offer," he said.
The week started on a somber note when longtime lawmaker Sen. Thomas Kennedy passed away. Kennedy, who used a wheelchair for much of his life after falling out of a window while studying for the priesthood in his youth, spent 26 years in the House before winning election to the Senate in 2008.
Kennedy, who could often be found holding court in his office retelling old war stories with a twist of Irish humor, died on Sunday after quietly battling cancer. He was 63.
While lawmakers, lobbyists and journos kept vigil throughout the week for white smoke emanating from the chambers of budget chiefs Rep. Brian Dempsey or Sen. Karen Spilka, Boston 2024 attempted to write the beginning of the next chapter for the city's Olympic bid.
Battling low approval numbers in opinion polls, officials released Bid 2.0 on Monday to give residents of Massachusetts the clearest look yet at what hosting the 2024 summer games might look like.
Venue plans had been released in previous weeks so the focus was on the budget, a $4.8 billion private revenue plan that, if all goes according to the spreadsheet, will generate a $210 million surplus.
New Boston 2024 Chairman Steve Pagliuca stressed that the documents released should be looked at not just as an Olympic map, but a blueprint for economic development in Boston and beyond for the next decade.
Sounding like a politician on the campaign trail, Pagliuca said the Olympics will bring thousands of new jobs, 8,000 new units of housing and two new neighborhoods developed around the Olympic Village and Widett Circle stadium that will eventually come down.
The state's actual top politicians, Gov. Charlie Baker, DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg got their own private briefing Monday before Boston 2024 officials jetted off to Redwood City, California to pitch the United States Olympic Committee.
All three seemed pleased with the progress, but still want to know more before forming an opinion, particularly about the $128 million in budgeted insurance expenses that organizers suggest will insulate taxpayers from cover cost overruns.
The other piece that needs a little more meat on the bones, they said, is Boston 2024's proposal for roughly $2 billion in transportation upgrades that Olympic organizers said are already in the pipeline and funded, and about $775 million in additional infrastructure improvements.
Speaking of making some progress, but not being quite there yet, budget negotiators took the inhabitants of the State House on a rollercoaster ride with one eye on the conference committee and the other on the calendar.
With the July 4th holiday weekend looming and no one wanting to be around on Friday, the buzz at the start of the week among House and Senate lawmakers was that Thursday would be the vote.
That remained the thinking right up until Wednesday morning - the first day of the new fiscal year - when the House met briefly in an informal session and scheduled only another informal for Thursday, dashing hopes that the budget ball would be thrown into the governor's court for the weekend.
What exactly happened between Saturday night at 8 o'clock, when DeLeo said he was infused with newfound confidence that his Ripkenian streak of six consecutive budgets done on or before July 1 might not be dead, and the middle of the week remains anyone's guess.
Is it taxes? MBTA reform? A personality clash between Dempsey and Spilka? "They've been going at it all day . . . positively," Rosenberg tried to assure Monday.
A $5.5 billion interim budget will keep government chugging along through July and Baker said he's feeling "very positive" an annual budget will be in place soon.
While it won't be a big help to budget writers this fiscal year, the first week of expanded gambling in Massachusetts was a success, if you're a Beacon Hill bean counter or the owners of the new Plainridge Park Casino.
The slot parlor raked in $6.1 million in its first week, of which $2.5 million will come back to the state for local aid and other priorities and $554,000 will be set away for a race horse development fund.
The early success of the Plainridge racino should give Treasurer Deborah Goldberg plenty of pause with her task of growing state Lottery revenues becoming all the more challenging.
Goldberg announced that Lottery revenues in fiscal 2015 were on track to hit the downwardly revised goal of $935 million that flows directly into local aid accounts for cities and towns. For the future, Lottery officials are starting to use zip code analysis to monitor sales pattern shifts in stores and communities near Plainridge Park to possibly target advertising.
In other news, six months into his administration Baker made his first judicial choice nominating Scott Kafker, an associate justice on the Appeals Court, to take over for the now retired Appeals Court Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza.
In what amounted to a popular pick in the legal community, Baker tapped a former colleague from his days in the Weld administration when the governor ran Health and Human Services and Kafker worked as Gov. Bill Weld's deputy legal counsel.
Many insurance companies this week also got whacked with bills associated with the new risk adjustment system under the federal Affordable Care Act. While Blue Cross Blue Shield made out like bandits collecting nearly $50 million from some of their competitors by insuring a larger pool of health-risk patients, some smaller insurers found themselves preparing to write hefty checks.
Baker's health team says it bears watching to make sure the risk adjustments don't threaten competition and stability in the market, but they said they're feeling better about it than they were six months ago.
STORY OF THE WEEK: What's the rush? With interim budget in place, legislators blow past July 1 budget deadline and head into Fourth of July weekend with talks ongoing.
About the Author »
Matt Murphy covers major media, lobbying firms, government agencies, political junkies as well as towns Statewide. He likes to cover politics and campaigns.
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