The President on Health Care Benefits:Year One

Posted on January 9, 2010 by billmanzi

The President used his weekly address to talk about the potential benefits of health care reform, including an emphasis on year one benefits. Those year one benefits have real importance, as the Congressional mid-terms will be impacted by the public perception of the benefits associated with the bill coming out shortly. The President sees the political danger dead ahead. Can the Administration hold the political losses by the Dems in the mid-term to a minimum?

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Spring Lacrosse Registration

Posted on January 8, 2010 by billmanzi

Format: Methuen will once again enter teams in the Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League. Games are held on Sundays.

Who Is Eligible: This will be a co-ed program for Methuen residents in grades 3 -8.

Teams: U11, U13 and U 15

Registration: Will take place on Monday Jan. 11 from 6 -9pm at Fuddrucker’s Restaurant -Rte. 28
Methuen, MA

Fee: $140.00 per player DOES NOT include equipment. Equipment information will be available at Registration.

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The Senate Race Tightens Up

Posted on January 7, 2010 by billmanzi

The race for U.S. Senate has tightened, according to the latest Rasmussen survey, with Republican Scott Brown pulling within nine points of A.G. Martha Coakley. Rasmussen had a couple of tidbits that caught my eye.

Both candidates get better than 70% of the vote from members of their respective parties, but Brown leads 65% to 21% among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties. In Massachusetts, however, Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and it is very difficult for the GOP to compete except in special circumstances. Eight percent (8%) of Democrats remain undecided while just 3% of Republicans are in that category.

The Brown lead amongst independents has to be troubling to Democrats, even if it turns out to be non-fatal in this case.

A second item of note:

Special elections are typically decided by who shows up to vote and it is clear from the data that Brown’s supporters are more enthusiastic. In fact, among those who are absolutely certain they will vote, Brown pulls to within two points of Coakley. That suggests a very low turnout will help the Republican and a higher turnout is better for the Democrat.

Brown is out working, as you might expect from a candidate that is behind. And some of the enthusiasm is to be expected from the Party that is out of power. But some is being generated by Brown’s willingness to work, which stands in contrast to the very laid back approach taken by Coakley.

Coakley’s campaign, or lack thereof, has come in for some withering criticism, as she appears to be playing to run out the clock on Brown. The Globe has highlighted her passive campaign in two critical columns, the first by Brian McGrory titled “Where’s Martha Coakley?” Today’s Globe featured a column by Joan Vennocchi talking about the “coolness” of Martha Coakley helping to put Brown back in this race.

Coakley released her first general election ad this week. I have attached it for your viewing pleasure. The message to Martha from many corners appears to be: step it up a notch. This could be a real race.

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Movement in the U.S. Senate

Posted on January 6, 2010 by billmanzi

U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd from Connecticut will announce today that he is not a candidate for re-election this year. Dodd’s announcement takes away the potential for a Republiucan victory in Democratic Connecticut, as his poll numbers have shown him to be very vulnerable to a challenger. It could clear the way for popular Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to take on the Republican nominee in November.

In North Dakota Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan announced he would not seek re-election, avoiding a potentially bruising battle with popular Republican Governor John Hoeven, who had been undecided about the race. Hoeven will likely now take the plunge with an open seat available. In light of that Democratic prospects for holding that seat are pretty slim.

The Dems are playing defense, with an out all Republican assault on the Obama Administration playing well in red states, making the task of holding those House and Senate seats for incumbent Dems an uphill fight.

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Doing the WCAP Morning Show

Posted on January 4, 2010 by billmanzi

Will be doing the mid-morning show today on WCAP, 980 on the am dial at 10:15. Everybody gets it!

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Methuen Inaugural Ceremony Monday

Posted on January 3, 2010 by billmanzi

Please join us at The Inauguration Ceremony of Mayor
William Manzi, the Methuen City Council, and the Methuen School Committee

On Monday, January 4, 2010, 7:00 pm. At the Searles Building, the Great Hall.

Reception to immediately follow refreshments to be served.

Posted in Methuen, Methuen City Council, Methuen Mayor's Race | Tagged | 2 Comments

The California Effect

Posted on January 3, 2010 by billmanzi

The Washington Post has produced two columns that hit very similar themes. The first, by David Ignatius, talks of the California budget crisis in the context of continuing political gridlock between the two major parties. Ignatius hits a recurring point from both columns.

What’s worrisome this year isn’t economic decline but political dysfunction. And nowhere is that clearer than in California, where politicians — despite some serious bipartisan efforts — haven’t been able to make the decisions that would put the state on a sound financial footing.

The political forces that generate deficits are just too strong: a Democratic Party in hock to public-employee unions and a Republican Party in love with tax cuts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger labored mightily in 2009 to close a $60 billion budget deficit, hammering out a plan that included $32 billion in spending cuts and $12.5 billion in temporary tax increases.

And yet there is so much polarization, and beyond that polarization is the desire to score cheap political gain when the governing party must make difficult decisions. Obstruct, block, and simply take positions that are diametrically opposed to positions taken under different circumstances, and you have a ticket to political and financial oblivion.

The second column, written by Ezra Klein, talks about the California dysfunction and how that same dysfunction has manifested itself in Washington.

Ever since Newt Gingrich partnered with Bob Dole to retake the Congress atop a successful strategy of relentless and effective obstructionism, Congress has been virtually incapable of doing anything difficult because the minority party will either block it or run against it, or both. And make no mistake: Congress will need to do hard things, and soon.

Yes, they will need to make exceedingly difficult decisions that will anger the base of both Parties. But who will step up and lead when it comes time to govern instead of seeking short term political gain? That leadership is not yet apparent.

Read the Klein column here.

Read the Ignatius column here.

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The President on Terrorism

Posted on January 2, 2010 by billmanzi

The President used his weekly address to show the measures he is taking to fight the battle against terrorism and Al-Qaeda specifically. He is trying to blunt the obvious Republican thrust that somehow his administration is soft on terrorism. With the President on vacation in Hawaii. the Administration is taking care to show that he is fully engaged on this issue. Today’s Washington Post has a piece on the difficulty of vacationing in the current atmosphere.

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Scott Brown and JFK

Posted on January 1, 2010 by billmanzi

Scott Brown has put out a 30 second ad which is quite clever, where JFK morphes into Brown delivering a message espousing tax cuts. Of course back when JFK cut taxes the top marginal rate was in the ninety percent neighborhood. And we did not have deficits that were quite as substantial, or that consumed as much of GDP as the current deficits. Still, a clever ad by Scott Brown. Probably won’t help much, but we will know that real soon.

Posted in State News | Tagged | 3 Comments

Today's Tribune Story on Pension Obligation

Posted on December 31, 2009 by billmanzi

Today’s Tribune has a story on pension funding by the City of Methuen. The online version has a headline which reads “Mayor says City not able to pay pension money today”, which is not what I said. I said that we would not make the payment today, because it would be financially imprudent to do so. We could make the payment if we had to. The story also did not mention the fact that the State Department of Revenue yesterday certified Methuen’s tax rate, allowing us to get our tax bills out on time. Getting the D.O.R. certification was made difficult by the refusal of the City Council to fund the pension obligation, which put our budget technically out of balance (an “appropriations deficit”). The finance team worked very hard on this for two days, and I would like to thank Tom Kelly and Ann Guastafero for their hard work. My thanks to Bob Nunes and the team at the Department of Revenue for all of their help and hard work as well. Whatever your thoughts on the City Council tax vote I think all sides agreed that getting a tax bill out on time was critically important to Methuen, and in light of that importance everyone should know that the certification has occurred. Happy New Year to all. I am grateful that I will not be spending New Years Eve with the team from D.O.R., as much as I have enjoyed their company for two days.

Posted in Methuen, Methuen City Council, Municipal Finance | Tagged , | 1 Comment