The House Gives Cities a Big Win

Posted on April 27, 2011 by billmanzi

The Massachusetts House of Representatives last night voted to pass municipal health care reform that actually saves municipalities money, incurring the ire of organized labor and setting the stage for the final showdown in the Senate. Organized labor continued their myopia on this issue, attacking the Speaker and the House for this vote: From State House News.

“It’s clearly union busting. It looks just like Wisconsin to me. It looks just like Ohio to me. It looks just like Indiana to me. I am profoundly disappointed in every Democrat who voted to do away with collective bargaining here in Massachusetts,” said Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

Haynes was not done, blasting the Speaker and what he called the “concentration of power” in the Speakers office:

“The Speaker told us good luck when we left his office, and I told him good luck and good luck to his Democratic members,” Haynes told the News Service. “Can you imagine what teachers and firefighter and police officers and public sector works and nurses and librarians are going to think when they wake up tomorrow morning to find out the Democrats that we elected, that we worked for, that we contributed to their campaigns just snatched collective bargaining away from them, just took the voice, the Democratic voice, away from working people. I say good luck to him. And good luck to the future of this House.”

Haynes failed to address the massive job losses that have occurred within organized labor due to the rapid escalation of health care costs and labors refusal, in so many instances, to negotiate equitable cost sharing. The Speaker is intractable???? How about the intractability of labor on the issue of local entry into the GIC? After passage of a bill allowing municipalities to enter the GIC with the assent of labor only a handful of localities have been able to do so, due to the intractability of labor. Assume a more realistic outlook on cost sharing in order to save UNION jobs? How many instances statewide have we seen where labor intractability has meant more job losses for their own members? Intractability? Maybe a mirror was in order.

The House, Chairman Dempsey, and Speaker Deleo, have shown great courage in passing this reform. The Speaker and Chairman Dempsey know what we know at the local level. The system is not sustainable as it stands today. Methuen Rep. Linda Dean Campbell voted to support the Speaker and Chairman Dempsey, and deserves credit for her courage as well.

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Stockman Takes Washington to Woodshed

Posted on April 25, 2011 by billmanzi

David Stockman, the Reagan OMB Director, wrote a column for the New York Times over the weekend in which he plainly lays out the games that are being played by Dems and Repubs on solving the budget deficit. He takes to task Republicans for their insistence on cutting taxes while professing to want to “cut the deficit”.

Ingratiating himself with the neo-cons, Mr. Ryan has put the $700 billion defense and security budget off limits; and caving to pusillanimous Republican politicians, he also exempts $17 trillion of Social Security and Medicare spending over the next decade. What is left, then, is $7 trillion in baseline spending for Medicaid and the social safety net — to which Mr. Ryan applies a meat cleaver, reducing outlays by $1.5 trillion, or 20 percent.

Trapped between the religion of low taxes and the reality of huge deficits, the Ryan plan appears to be an attack on the poor in order to coddle the rich. To the Democrats’ invitation to class war, the Republicans have seemingly sent an R.S.V.P.

He does not spare President Obama:

The latest iteration of the Obama plan is little better. By 2014, it would generate $70 billion from taxing the rich and perhaps $30 billion from the president’s belated call to re-examine our over-financed military but virtually nothing from freezes on domestic programs or from Medicare reimbursement reforms.

So Stockman points out that once again, if Paul Ryan is trying to be “America’s accountant” he needs a new set of numbers. President Obama’s plans, whatever they might be in the specific, spare the draconian cuts imposed by Ryan but do not in any meaningful way address the deficit.

Nevertheless, the Democrats are immobilized because Keynesians insist on kicking the budgetary can down the road until cyclical “demand” has in their estimation fully recovered, while Republicans sit on their hands because supply-siders insist on letting the deficit fester until tax cuts work their alleged revenue magic.

Yes a swipe at Krugman, who insists deficits are fine until “demand” grows, and at all Republicans who are selling budgetary voodoo. Stockman nails it pretty cleanly, in my opinion, showing that if deficit reduction is your goal then neither Party has delivered anything of note.

But Krugman today delivers his prescription, which involves less cutting, and more taxing. He talks about the Progressive Caucus budget proposal:

True, it increases revenue partly by imposing substantially higher taxes on the wealthy, which is popular everywhere except inside the Beltway. But it also calls for a rise in the Social Security cap, significantly raising taxes on around 6 percent of workers. And, by rescinding many of the Bush tax cuts, not just those affecting top incomes, it would modestly raise taxes even on middle-income families.

All of this, combined with spending cuts mostly focused on defense, is projected to yield a balanced budget by 2021. And the proposal achieves this without dismantling the legacy of the New Deal, which gave us Social Security, and the Great Society, which gave us Medicare and Medicaid.

Krugman notes that he doesn’t expect this to pass, but neither does he expect the Ryan proposal to pass. It comes down to choices which are going to cause pain for somebody. But as Stockman points out politicians in Washington abhor hard choices.

This has instilled a terrible budgetary habit whereby politicians continuously duck concrete but politically painful near-term savings in favor of gimmicks like freezes, caps and block grants that push purely paper cuts into the distant, foggy future. Mr. Ryan’s plan gets to a balanced budget in the fiscal afterlife (i.e., the 2030s); the White House’s tactic of accumulating small-fry deficit cuts over the enormous span of 12 years amounts to the same dodge.

I do believe that the ability to kick the can down the road has ended, and that we must adopt sensible, balanced measures that will actually deal with the deficit. With the tenor of today’s debate that does not seem likely to happen.

Read the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget here.

Read the Stockman column here.

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Bobby Cole Wins April SOAR Award

Posted on April 21, 2011 by billmanzi

Congratulations to Bobby Cole, winner of the April SOAR Award.

It is an honor for the physical education department to nominate Bobby Cole as this year’s S.O.A.R. Award recipient.

Bobby is a bright and articulate young man for whom it has been a pleasure to teach over the last four years. He is a great student who is respected by both his peers and faculty as being a young man of integrity, pride and class. Regardless of the situation, Bobby always remains poised, positive and enthusiastic he is a role model for other students to strive to emulate. Along with physical education class, Bobby currently carries a course load of AP Enhancement, English 12 level 4, AP Statistics, AP Calculus, Level 4 Physics, and AP European History.

Bobby is always prepared for class and he can be counted on at any time to assist or initiate at the onset of any new activity in class. Bobby is a leader in class and on the athletic playing field. Each and every teacher, or coach, that deals with Bobby is left with the same feeling of pride knowing that he represents Methuen High School as a student-athlete.

The physical education staff wishes him well as he enters his freshman year at The University of Connecticut next fall and is confident that his attitude and energy will bring him continued success in the future.
Bobby Cole Wins the April SOAR Award

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Trump: Romney Minuscule

Posted on April 18, 2011 by billmanzi

Donald Trump is roiling the Republican Party, as he attacks not only President Obama but any Republican who is a potential competitor or who has the temerity to question his credentials. Trump has shot up to the top of the latest Public Policy Polling survey of Republican primary voters, leading the pack by more than a few points.

Every month, PPP polls Republican primary voters nationwide about their preferences for the GOP presidential nomination. Almost every month, the top four candidates have been in a statistical tie, with various candidates jockeying back and forth for slim leads. But for the first time in three months, when Mike Huckabee had a tenpoint lead over Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, PPP has found a candidate who puts serious distance between himself and the rest of the field: Donald Trump.
Trump leads with 26% over Huckabee’s 17%, Romney’s 15%, Newt Gingrich’s 11%, Palin’s 8%, Ron Paul’s 5%, and Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann’s 4%.

Trump by 11% over Mitt Romney, who he described as a “small businessman” who certainly could not match the “size” of the Trump net worth. Well the Republicans are getting a little antsy over their new front-runner, with Krauthammer calling him a “clown” and comparing him to Al Sharpton, and Eric Cantor weighing in by saying Trump was not “serious” about the race. Even Karl Rove dismissed Trump as representative of the “nutty right”. Gee, is that any way to treat the Republican front-runner????? Naturally Trump has fired back, hitting Rove as the man (along with George W. Bush) who gave us President Obama, and spraying rhetorical fire all over Cantor and Romney.

Rove’s description of the birther issue as representing the “nutty right” should be accurate. But is it? Rove and others have described “birthers” as a small fringe group in the Republican Party. But the PPP
polling data seems to show something quite different.

23% of these voters say they would not be willing to vote for a candidate who stated clearly that Obama was born in the U.S. 38% say they would, and a 39% plurality are not sure

So the poll numbers show 62% of Republican voters potentially unable to vote for a candidate who acknowledges President Obama as having been born in this country. That does not seem like a small fringe movement in the Republican Party to me. Seems that a “birther” like Trump would be pretty mainstream in that group. And therein lies the real problem for Republican candidates. They need to win Republican primaries, but in so doing they will be in a very difficult position in the general election, as President Obama can watch as they are forced to espouse positions that are not even close to mainstream. And tacking back to the center in the general election is just going to be so difficult after coming through these primaries. Romney’s attempt to be “adult” should show you the depth of the problem. He is being adult by shutting up and not saying a word, except for pablum. For those who might expect Romney to actually condemn birthers, or take a responsible position on fiscal matters, think again. It would be his ticket to oblivion. Doubts about that? Read that 62% number above again, and then tell me how responsible he should be? Bring on “the Donald”, who seems to represent Republican voters more than senior Republicans want to admit.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2011/04/17/sotu.trump.romney.cnn

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House Steps Towards Real Muni Health Reform

Posted on April 16, 2011 by billmanzi

The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Haverhill’s Brian Dempsey, released their version of the FY12 Budget this week, and it contained some real good news for municipalities throughout Massachusetts. The Dempsey budget did not change the local aid number recommended by the Governor, leaving unrestricted local aid, Chapter 70, and the Special Education Circuit Breaker funded at the same level as recommended by Governor Patrick. Nobody likes being cut, and the overall local aid cut statewide over the past three plus years is about 38%, but Chairman Dempsey and Speaker Deleo have made a real effort to spare local aid in this budget proposal. And they have recommended real municipal health care reform. An MMA summary of the Ways and Means proposal gives a flavor for the real scope of this initiative. And it is real good.

As drafted, municipalities that accept the new law would be able to modernize the design of their employee health plans outside of collective bargaining, with a guarantee that all municipal and school employees would still have health plans that are the same or better than what state employees receive, meaning no city or town could use this authority to implement higher co-pays or deductibles than the state.

• Communities would also have the power to join the Group Insurance Commission outside of collective bargaining if they demonstrate that joining the GIC would provide greater financial relief than making plan design changes on their own.

• Ten percent of the savings or costs avoided in the first year would be set aside to fund a health reimbursement account that would be structured based on an agreement between municipalities and their unions.

• Cities and towns would still negotiate any change in the employee-employer premium share, giving municipal unions more bargaining authority over health insurance than state employee unions. Any new co-pays or deductibles higher than the GIC plans would have to be approved in collective bargaining. The bill simply gives plan design parity and options to cities and towns.

The push-back from labor has been fierce, with labor leaders camping out at the Speakers Office, and the head of the Firefighters Union threatening retribution in November 2012. From the Globe.

Outraged union leaders said they would work to oust legislators who vote for the plan.

“The only thing that this budget does is silence the voice of working families,’’ said Edward Kelly, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. “But those voices won’t be silent in November 2012.’’

In advance of full House consideration the lobbying has been fierce, with union locals, including Police, Fire, and Teachers, making multiple calls to their Reps to try to defeat this provision on the floor. Rep. Marty Walsh has filed an amendment dealing with this provision that has labor support, but so far I have not seen a copy that would give details. The full House vote is a real test of the strength of the labor unions in Massachusetts. They have been able to hold off badly needed reform in the Legislature for years, and this success has cost their members dearly, with job losses caused by the lack of reform coming directly at their expense. Collective bargaining in this area has simply failed to work, as labor, for the most part, has just said no to increased cost sharing in the health care arena. Even though this bill has a way to go it is already having impacts, as Mayor Menino just announced a comprehensive health care settlement with all of his unions that will save Boston taxpayers millions of dollars.And while the unions are trumpeting this as a sign that collective bargaining can work in the health care area it appears to have taken the real threat posed by the legislative reform effort to bring this about.

As a Mayor I have negotiated two major health care deals through Section 19 bargaining, as well as 30 plus individual contracts through the bargaining process. I do believe that bargaining can work, but for some reason it just has not been successful, statewide, as a tool to bring more balance to municipal health care costs. The House has taken a huge, and vital, step in the right direction with Chairman Dempsey’s proposal. It favors property taxpayers while still providing OUTSTANDING health care to municipal employees, and allows municipal managers to utilize savings to protect union jobs and municipal services. Great job by Chairman Dempsey and Speaker Deleo.

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More Deficit Battles

Posted on April 16, 2011 by billmanzi

The deficit wars continue to rage, with both parties outlining deficit reduction visions that are miles apart. For people who take this issue seriously there is some prospect for success, despite the starkly different visions laid out by both sides over the past week.

Of course there was some fun to be had, as an open mic picked up President Obama talking about budget negotiations with Republicans, disparaging them and specifically denigrating Paul Ryan, who he pointed out voted for the Bush tax cuts (unpaid), the prescription drug bill (unpaid), two wars (still unpaid), all the while talking about deficit cutting. Republicans claim to be for deficit cutting, but they often confuse “tax cutting” with deficit cutting.

The Republican response to the Obama deficit reduction speech was given by Senator Tom Coburn. Now Coburn is a Senator that you cannot make the charge of hypocrisy against, as his anti-deficit bona fides are legitimate. He is a member of the bi-partisan “Gang of Six”, who are using Simpson-Bowles as a tool to try to drive a bi-partisan deficit agreement in the Senate. Coburn was a member of the Simpson-Bowles Commission, and unlike Ryan voted in favor of the Commission’s final report.

Coburn criticizes the President on taxes, specifically over the President’s refusal to embrace reductions in overall tax rates in return for the removal of a myriad of tax deductions and tax expenditures. Ryan proposes such a scheme in his plan, but unlike Simpson-Bowles strives for what he calls “revenue nutrality” in tax simplification. Ryan’s plan rejects the common sense approach of Simpson-Bowles on this issue, refusing again to consider ANY revenue enhancements, even through the tax simplification process. Hopefully Ryan’s position on that issue is an opener, and we can achieve tax code simplification that will produce some additional revenues to pay for the things that we all want to see continue. Coburn’s position brings some Republican sanity to this issue, although I am sure that Democrats don’t see it entirely that way. Coburn has gotten in trouble with Grover Norquist and his band of merry “starve the beasters” over his willingness to consider the elimination of some ridiculous “tax expenditures”, but that story is so good that we have to save it for a separate post. For now I think that it is not as bleak for an ultimate deal as it may look today.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

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The President Strikes Back

Posted on April 15, 2011 by billmanzi

President Obama, having ceded the initial ground on deficit reduction to Republican Paul Ryan, answered the Ryan plan in a speech this week. The President, in broad brush strokes, offered that we need to attack the deficit in a more balanced way than Paul Ryan has suggested, including cuts but also including tax increases for the top wage earners. It appears to me that the President still needs to put some detail into the plan, but there was enough there to paint a stark contrast with the Republicans. From the New York Times:

“They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors to each pay $6,000 more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I am president,” Mr. Obama said, his only line that drew applause.

The President was accused by Republicans of partisan rhetoric, but it is hard to take that charge seriously after the pounding they have given to the President on the deficit issue. I did find it odd that the President invited Chairman Ryan and Chairman Camp to the speech, and then ripped their jocks off, but I guess you can say that he wasn’t disparaging them behind their backs.

The Republican proposal is not really a deficit reduction plan, but rather a tax cutting plan that promotes Republican orthodoxy. The President has laid down a political marker, and the upcoming political battle will be defining for the Presidential race in 2012.

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Methuen Veterans Night Tonight

Posted on April 13, 2011 by billmanzi

Tonight is Methuen’s Veterans Night at the Methuen Senior Center. We take this opportunity to answer questions and bring resources to our veterans community. We are honored to have Coleman Nee, the Secretary of Veterans Services, as one of our guest speakers tonight. The event is open to any veteran, and to the public. Thanks to Tom Hargreaves, Methuen’s Veteran’s Agent, and Dot Avery from our Veterans Services Office.

Methuen Department of Veterans’ Services
Presents:
12th Annual Veteran’s Night
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
6:30-8:30 pm

Methuen Senior Center
Guest speakers (in the order of Presentation):

Coleman Nee: Secretary, DVS Boston

John Ratka: Northeast Veteran’s Outreach Ctr.

Bryhn McLeod: ValleyWorks; Employment & Training

Mathew Steer: Northern Essex Community College

Diane Knight: Smoking Cessation

Vivian Roman-Hampton: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Michelle Mastrangelo: City Assessor-Tax Exemptions

John Dowd: Methuen Post 122 American Legion

Frank Shimko: VFW Post 8349; Methuen

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Mitt Explores a Run

Posted on April 12, 2011 by billmanzi

Mitt Romney released a video announcing an exploratory committee yesterday, taking the plunge he has been preparing for since his loss to John McCain. Romney has had some real attention paid to him by prominent Democrats, including the White House, with Democrats “thanking” Governor Romney for his role in creating “RomneyCare”. I know it is fairly easy to have some fun with Mitt, especially on health care, but I see him as formidable in a general election fight. In this field of Republicans he has to be considered as one of the favorites, although his shortcomings always seem to pop up in any discussion. From Politico:

No conversation about the former Massachusetts governor begins with a listing of his strengths as a candidate. Instead, Romney is the rare national politician defined largely by his shortcomings. The most prominent among them— his role in enacting a sweeping Massachusetts health care law exactly five years ago—was already being dissected by his Republican and Democratic opponents on Monday just moments after he announced he’s forming a presidential exploratory committee.

For today I make Romney the slight favorite for the Republican nomination. But as Politico points out the challenges are vast.

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Joyce Godsey Named April Artist of the Month

Posted on April 12, 2011 by billmanzi

Photographer’s Work on Display in the Mayor’s Office

Mayor William M. Manzi has named Joyce Godsey as April’s Artist of the Month. Joyce has lived and worked in Methuen for 35 years. A professional antiquarian bookseller for thirty years, she has written a book on book repair and owns Sicpress.com a book repair supply house.

Besides her passion for collecting and repairing vintage cameras and bicycles, Joyce gives much of her time to Animal Rescue Merrimack Valley and heads the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance. Her many local interests provide the subject matter for most of her photographs. Alternating between film and digital she provides most of images for the animal rescue group and the Methuen Rail Trail projects.

Mayor Manzi stated, “I’d like to personally thank Joyce for her participation in this program. She is one of the many talented photographers living and working in our community. It is an honor to display her photographs. I encourage people to come to my office and view her work.”

The Methuen Artist of the Month Program was created by Mayor Manzi five years ago in order to give members of the Methuen Arts Community a forum to display their work and to encourage participation in Methuen’s growing creative economy. Methuen artists interested in being considered for Artist of the Month should contact the Mayor’s Office.
Joyce Godsey, April Artist of the Month

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