Deval, Cahill, The Legislature and the Democratic Convention
Our Governor wants to the Legislature to move 22 million dollars from the "Lawmakers PAC" which is used to fund renovations of the State House, into the general fund. The executive branch has already moved it's 1.1 million into the fund. Deval has said he will veto that line item if it is not in the budget. My question is, where the hell does that money come from and who contributes to that fund? I never knew it existed.
Mr. Cahill, while putting on the "Money Conference" is underwritten by some very large banks who deal with Cahill for this States bond and investment funds, including the states pension fund. While on the surface everything looks fine and YWCA who does great work, partners with Cahill to raise money, these same contributors are skirting campaign finance laws and Cahill is taking money from those who do business with the State.
This past weekend, in Springfield Mass, the Dems had their own version of a Love in. With all the press coverage of DiMasi and friends being indicted and the continual cycle of corruption coming from the State House, one would think that perhaps a new direction would have come out of the event. Perhaps even some would apologize to the people of this state.
I'm not shocked to read that delegates there from Metro West would be quoted as saying, "The party has nothing to do with it" said Farooq Karim-Mirza of Framingham. And Natick's Rep Linsky, who voted for DiMasi saying, We're doing the important work that the people send us to Beacon Hill to do", And "we're not going to let the action of a few of our colleagues keep us from doing that type of work".
The best case for mental evaluations of not only our elected eleite, but some of the delegates also. Their denial is going to come back and haunt them next year, I promise. Their shallow words are matched with their incompetency.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 5:59 PM
14 Comments
14 Comments:
What the hell is the Lawmaker PAC? You say you don’t know either, but how do we find out? And how many more of these secret funds exist that someone is funding and the voters don’t know anything about? And what the hell is a Money Conference? You lost me on that one. And what does the YWCA have to do with it?
The system sucks, lets face it. And we can not do anything about it until at least the next election cycle, and here in MA, chances are we won’t do anything at that point either, we will just vote the party line and re-elect these people. The ignorance and entitlment attitude are inbred in the democratic party in this state. It is made up of the less educated, less intelligent voters in MA, and they rule by the fact that there are more of them who vote than by the fact they are the most qualified or the best for the position. The bar for political qualification is pretty low in this state, and they take advantage of that. I hope you all remember this come elections in 2010. If we do not break this cycle, we will again have a state lead by crooked, unethical, under-educated, self centered egotists who use the political arena in MA to feather their own bed, and think that is perfectly acceptable behavior. They are making fools of us people, and I hope you remember that in 2010.
Dem Love In. I like that name. Metro west reps seem to be among the worst in the state. They are completely clueless while their constituents are sinking further and further into the abyss. Ethics reforms should be their number one priority, and they should be apologizing for, at the very least, being asleep at the switch while all this corruption was/is happening. But to act like they are above the mess is ludicrous and insulting to us voters. When are they going to get it?
We have been democrats for longer than I care to remember. We travel now to different parts of the country to visit our children and grandchildren and when engaged in converstation with people for other states, I am honestly embarrassed to say I am a democrat for Massachusetts. That was a rude awakening for us. Made me start thinking about why I am supporting a party that has had three speakers of the House indicted, and has reps who think they should get paid for holidays that no one else gets, and they should get a raise in an economy where their constituents are losing their jobs. I hate to admit it, but being a Massachusetts democrat is no longer something I am proud of. Not sure that the republican platform is one I can support, but I will tell you this, I would support any platform that has transparancy, honesty, and ethical behavior as an integral part of their party fundamentals. The rest of the stuff is a matter of opinion, but those things are not! The democrats need to show they are better than this if they want to continue to get my support. They need to publically speak out against those committing illegal acts and exhibiting unethical behavior. They need to start addressing the needs of their constituents, and not the needs of the farm animals that don’t even exist in our district. Until they do that, we simply will not support the democratic party in this state.
You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. Wait a minute. We can actually live without them. Lets give that a try. Has to be better than this.
The important work that the people send us to Beacon Hill to do? Remind me, when did I tell them I was concerned about the sleeping conditions of farm animals, or the license process for illegal immigrants? I must have had an issue with my keyboard the day I was sending that message because that certainly was not what I thought I told Richardson was important to me!
Nice summary Jim. The sad part of this is what you say in the 4th parpagraph about not being shocked at what the Metro West delegates are saying. You are right, our expectations of them have fallen so low that we expect them to act like idiots and they have not let us down in our expectations.
We are far beyond mental evaluations Jim, don’t you think?. They have already proven beyond any reasonable doubt that they are corrupt, unethical and stupid. What do we need to pay for mental evaluations for? The proof is in the pudding.
All you guys do on this blog is complain about the situation in our state. How about doing something about it instead of complaining about it all the time. At least Pillsbury backs up what he says by running for office. The rest of you losers don’t run, and I am betting don’t even vote. The voter turn out in Framingham has been so low it is ridiculous. If you are not willing to run, and not willing to vote for an outsider who is willing to run, then I say you have what you deserve so stop bitching about it. Put up or shut up I say. Vote for Pillsbury, run yourself, back a candidate who is not currently in office against the incumbant, lots of options for you. Just do something besides complaining about how bad it is. Same to those of you complaining about town meeting members getting off point. You think you can do a better job, then become a town meeting member. You need to act, not just talk about it.
The Globe reports that the monies, "rainy day funds", or their State House name, "prior approbations continued"... is money that was appropriated to an agency but is not spent in that calendar year. That money is somehow put into House accounts, 4 million, the Senate has 7 million and they jointly have an account of 10 million.
Since they can't float bonds for maintenance of the State House, the defenders of "go along to get along", say that funds are used to keep the peoples house repaired.
I wonder how many private contractors doing business there are living off of this system?
I have to admit, I was a practicing Democrat during the Carter years and got suckered in by Clinton once and have since denounced the two party system as unproductive and unethical.
We all want to be on the winning team, the good side or even the right side, if such a thing exists. But to deny the existence of criminal behavior within the ranks .. .makes no sense what so ever. Party loyalty should not be blind to reoccurring history. How was Flaherty, Finneran and DiMasi elected... the party elected them, not us.
Like him or not, Obama himself has elevated the Party in my eyes on the national level and most Americans agree. We need an Obama like hero here in Mass of the human party.
The sales tax increase will happen it seems and may not stop there. If you have direct TV, you'll pay an extra 3.50 a month and the exemption for alcohol will hit anyone buying in stores. Incredible pressure is being mounted against those proposals by the Direct TV people and Alcohol distributors. To bad for them the budget meetings are closed door.
There's still a 19 cent a gallon gas tax floating around the House and still no meaningful pension, Ethics or Transportation agreements. It's not over yet folks and the budget deadline is fast approaching. Look for this obituary by the July 4th weekend.
Arnold,
The money conference is the brain child of former Secretary Shannon O'Brian. This was fist billed as an empowerment program with YWCA as a partner. All good intentions back then. a few more empowered women in life would do us all a bit of good.
Cahill inherited this program and now is seen as someone who benefits from it's sponsors. Cahill is the funnel for fund raising and those big companies who are now or want to be doing business with the State, the very same people who make millions off our public funds in pensions, have a front row seat at Cahills table. Just more unethical behavior, but this time, he's running for Governor and things like this will make headlines.
The Globe once again shines a light on Cahill and his apparent loyalty to a supporter by doubling her pension. At this point, even some of the people on the take are complaining of his departure from the rules, in which public safety groups likes cops, fireman and prison guards, get lumped into a higher pension ranking due to their high level of danger and stress.
It's a long story, but the bottom line is she has been collecting a 47k pension since she was 49 and retired as an administration aid to the Sheriff's department. She has also given directly to Mr. Cahill, thousands of dollars in campaign donations. Josephine Shea who is now 57 works for a firm that brokers deals with state pension funds, that Cahill oversees.
I would guess at this point, there are hundreds of former State employee's getting the very same treatment. Cahill will offer the very same in 2010 as those who run the State now.
Cahill should be strung up for all to taunt. He must have been born without a conscience this one. The arrogance of these people thinking that no one is going to catch them at this stuff is what bothers me the most. First you screw us, then you think we like the fact you screwed us, or are to stupid to know you did. Come on, give us a break.
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