Daschle Hits the Tax Skids

Posted on January 31, 2009 by billmanzi

Tom Daschle’s confirmation as H.H.S. Secretary appears to be in doubt with the revelation yesterday of tax problems. Daschle has filed amended tax returns for three years that have added $128,000 to his tax liability. His problems are in three separate areas:

1) Failure to list as income the cash value of a driving service provided to him free of charge by a company he provided consulting services for.
2) Failure to report consulting income of over $83,000 in 2007. This has been blamed on a “clerical error” by the firm that employed Daschle.
3) Insufficient documentation for $15,000 in charitable donations over a three year period. The Daschle’s donated $276,000 to charity over that period.
Daschle has paid the back taxes and another $12,000 in interest and penalties.
The President appears to be still behind Daschle, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who succeeded Daschle as the Democratic Leader in the Senate, issued a strong statement of support. From the Washington Post:

In a statement last night, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said: “Senator Daschle brought these issues to the Finance Committee’s attention when he submitted his nomination forms, and we are confident the committee is going to schedule a hearing for him very soon and he will be confirmed.”

“He has a long and distinguished career and record in public service and is the best person to help reform health care in this country,” Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), said in a statement. “Sen. Reid looks forward to a swift hearing and is confident Daschle will be confirmed.”

Daschle may well have the strength to be confirmed in spite of these troubles, but it will be harder for him than it was for Tim Geithner. At least his potential portfolio does not include the I.R.S.

Posted in National News | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Bye Bye Blago

Posted on January 29, 2009 by billmanzi

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was today convicted by the Illinois State Senate, and removed from office by a vote of 59-0. Blagojevich had addressed the State Senate and defended his actions as Governor: From MSNBC:

Blagojevich acknowledged he sometimes mingled campaign fundraising with government decisions or cut administrative corners to achieve his goals. But he maintained his motivation was always to help constituents. FBI wiretaps from a federal corruption probe captured something “all of us in politics do in order to run campaigns and win elections,” Blagojevich told senators, who were to vote later Thursday on ousting him.

The governor said he would like to apologize, but couldn’t because he didn’t do anything wrong. The senators watched attentively. Many leaned forward in their seats. Some took notes.

The Senate’s impeachment prosecutor offered a different version:

Blagojevich’s emotional defense was in sharp contrast to the picture drawn by impeachment prosecutor David Ellis. He told senators Blagojevich’s own words, caught on tape in the federal corruption probe, reveal an abuse of power.

“Every decision this governor made was based on one of three criteria: his legal situation, his personal situation and his political situation,” Ellis said.

“The people of this state deserve so much better. The governor should be removed from office,” he added.

And Rod is now gone, to be replaced by Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn. An extraordinary political saga, even by Illinois political standards comes to an end.

Posted in National News | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Governor’s 2009 9-c cuts detailed

Posted on January 29, 2009 by billmanzi

Governor Deval Patrick yesterday detailed his 9-c cuts by community, as well as producing a plan to balance the FY2009 state budget. The cuts were not good news for cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley. Methuen’s mid year cut totals $659,419. Let us list some of those mid year cuts by other communities in the Merrimack Valley.

Andover $216,709
Amesbury $235,940
Dracut $424,928
Lawrence $2,381,288
North Andover $248,548
Newburyport $309,316
Lowell $3,054,791
Salisbury $76,631
Haverhill $1,191,978

These mid year cuts will lead to layoffs and a diminished capacity to provide core municipal services. Coming mid-year only amplifies the impact that these cuts will have. The Governor cut $128 million in local aid, as well as an additional $63 million in state budget cuts. He will dip into the State rainy day fund for an additional $327 million, rely on local revenue enhancements for $68 million, and allocate $533 million in federal medicaid funds from the stimulus bill now winding its way through Congress. All told it appears to be $860 million in one time revenue. The Governor also announced his FY2010 budget, which received most of the press yesterday. I will post additional detail on that separately.

We are working to quickly devise our budget to meet the new, lowered allocation of state aid. We will have new local budget numbers out by next week for FY2009, and we are working on producing our FY2010 budget as well. While the short term fiscal outlook is bleak the opportunity to reform the way we do business in government is now upon us. We should seize this opportunity, and reform some of the practices that have brought such cynicism about government to the public.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

House Passes Stimulus

Posted on January 29, 2009 by billmanzi

The House of Representatives yesterday passed the federal stimulus bill by a 244-188 margin, with not one Republican voting in favor. Republicans had offered a substitute that was weighted towards tax cuts. but that measure was handily defeated. I have put up the bill summary of the House Appropriations Committee in a prior post, but lets look at some of the bill description in the Washington Post:

Tens of billions of additional dollars would go to the states, which confront the prospect of deep budget cuts of their own. That money marks an attempt to ease the recession’s impact on schools and law enforcement. With funding for housing weatherization and other provisions, the bill also makes a down payment on Obama’s campaign promise of creating jobs that can reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Governor Patrick is certainly counting on that money, as he has included federal money from this bill in balancing this years budget, and in his proposal for next years budget. The Senate will begin action next week, with the goal of having a bill before President Obama by Presidents Day.

Posted in National News, State News | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Gore Testifies

Posted on January 28, 2009 by billmanzi

Al Gore testified today before the Senate Foreign Relation Committee. In that testimony Gore called for passage of President Obama’s stimulus package as well as quick action on climate change. He urged Congress not to let the myriad of problems, foreign and domestic, deter them from acting to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. From MSNBC:

“As long as we continue to depend on dirty fossil fuels like coal and oil to meet our energy needs,” Gore added, “we move closer and closer to several dangerous tipping points which scientists have repeatedly warned — again just yesterday — will threaten to make it impossible for us to avoid irretrievable destruction of the conditions that make human civilization possible on this planet.”

His reference to Tuesday was a study sponsored by the federal government that predicted significant climate impacts over the next 1,000 years even if carbon emissions were capped soon.

As a special treat to Jules Gordon I have attached MSNBC video, as well as the video Al Gore sent in advance of his testimony from Repower America.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28894893#28894893.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;}

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Posted in National News | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Obama Stimulus

Posted on January 28, 2009 by billmanzi

The huge federal stimulus bill is winding its way through Congress, with the House expected to pass it in the next day or so, and the Senate shooting for enactment by the Presidents Day Holiday. I have attached it below, and although it is expected to pass with heavy Democratic support President Obama has had difficulty attracting Republican support. See the Bob Herbert column in today’s New York Times for the general Democratic feeling on this Republican opposition. But I do believe that there might be some opportunity here that the President may be missing. I have attached the House Appropriations Committee executive summary of the bill, and there is some thought in Democratic circles that we may be mixing apples and oranges here. Should the stimulus bill put money into areas that need more thought and planning? (High Speed Rail, Energy Conservation and Conversion to Renewable Energy Sources, Rebuilding our Energy Grid come to mind). I am happy to see such funds included in this bill, but after passage of such a monster financial bill will that be all there is? Alice Rivlin testified before Congress that we should look at splitting the package in two. From the Washington Post:

In testimony before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Alice M. Rivlin, who was President Bill Clinton’s budget director, suggested splitting the plan, implementing its immediate stimulus components now and taking more time to plan the longer-term transformative spending to make sure it is done right.

“Such a long-term investment program should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package. The elements of the investment program must be carefully planned and will not create many jobs right away,” said Rivlin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. The risk, she said, is that “money will be wasted because the investment elements were not carefully crafted.”

Rivlin’s point is worth thinking about. A failure here while we are expending huge amounts of money could condemn some badly needed investments to the political back burner. The administration feels that this package is just a begining, and they may well be right about how to approach this. But failure in the energy and infrastructure areas could be fatal to getting America on the right track in these areas. Just some food for thought!

stimulus-package

Posted in National News | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Methuen Schools Closed

Posted on January 28, 2009 by billmanzi

The Methuen Public Schools will be closed today, Wednesday January 28th due to the storm.

Posted in Methuen | Tagged | 2 Comments

No Suprise: Deleo Next Speaker

Posted on January 27, 2009 by billmanzi

House Chairman of Ways and Means Bob Deleo will be elected by the full House tommorow to succeed Salvatore Dimasi as Speaker of the House. With John Rodgers conceding defeat Deleo took a victory lap around the State House, appearing with Governor Deval Patrick and John Rodgers to proclaim unity. From the Globe:

This afternoon on the House floor, DeLeo shook hands and spoke with Rogers. In the press conference that followed, DeLeo voiced his support for slot machines at race tracks and ticked off his priorities as speaker: transportation, a pension overhaul, and ethics reform. He described himself as a moderate — not a conservative — who is a “very good listener who tries to help people.”

Deleo has been a supporter of slots at tracks, largely a function of his hoping to help Suffolk Downs. I do believe that he may push that agenda, but I doubt that he will push it aggressively or quickly. Deleo’s first order of business will be to organize the House, and the winners and losers from this fight will become evident very quickly. I am less worried about casino’s and slots than I am about who the next Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee will be.

Deleo has been to Methuen twice as Chair of Ways and Means, and is as nice of a person in private as he is in public. Good luck to Speaker Bobby Deleo. He is going to need it.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271552990

Posted in State News | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Wilmington School Committe Nixes Teacher Contract

Posted on January 27, 2009 by billmanzi

The Lowell Sun is reporting that the Wilmington School Committee has turned down a teachers contract that had been negotiated and was ready for ratification by both sides. While the exact terms of the contract were not made public the Sun reports that it was likely a three year deal with an eight percent increase for teachers over that period. In the past such a contract would have been considered modest. Today it is unacceptable. Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation commented in the Sun:

“These are extraordinary times, of the kind we haven’t seen in 75 years,” said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. “You can’t have a global economic meltdown and not have consequences for everybody. The traditional reality of being able to give raises and generous benefits is coming to an end.”

Widmer also pointed out the obvious, but the obvious is sometimes slow to seep in.

“People need to understand that at this point, there will be a direct tradeoff between giving a raise and layoffs,” Widmer noted. “I applaud the Wilmington School Committee for raising this issue.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association does not agree, saying that we must find a way to make education “recession proof”.

“We understand that these are difficult and uncertain times, but we think it’s reasonable to still have some salary increases,” said Anne Wass, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “No matter how bad the economy is, we have to find a way to recession-proof education. Where you might go slow for a while on a road that is in need of repairs, a kid only goes through education once. We have a big investment here that we need to protect.”

You will now begin to see more of this, with municipalities in no position to give even modest increases. As the situation gets worse, and with no help from above, cities and towns will begin the process of asking for modifications and givebacks on existing and future contracts. Widmer has it right. There is a direct correlation between salaries and benefits and employment. The higher the cost structure, the less we will be able to employ. Read the Sun article here.

Posted in State News | Tagged , | 3 Comments

McAuliffe Takes Off in Virginia

Posted on January 27, 2009 by billmanzi

Clintonista Terry McAuliffe is running for Governor in Virginia, and he is already on the air with ads. McAuliffe faces a three way primary in Virginia, and his entry into the race gives it some national sparkle (and plenty of money). McAuliffe will face Del. Brian Moran and State Senator R. Creigh Deeds in the Democratic primary. A national race to watch, with McAuliffe the early betting favorite. A good ad to begin the campaign.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment