Worcester County Freedom Trail

Senator Jesse Helms was a strong conservative who spent 30 years on Capitol Hill fighting for traditional family and religious values. Our prayers are with him and his family at this sad time.

This from FoxNews:

Former Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, a leading conservative on Capitol Hill, died early Friday morning. He was 86.

The Jesse Helms Center posted a brief statement on its Web site saying Helms died at 1:15 a.m. in Raleigh, N.C.

Jimmy Broughton, Helms’ former chief of staff, said he died of natural causes.

The five-term senator from North Carolina formerly chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and often railed against Communism, as well as liberalism and big government.

Known by some as “Senator No” for his opposition to Democratic measures, Helms was a polarizing figure for his positions on social issues.

He was a proponent of school prayer and an opponent of abortion rights and gay rights groups.

Colleagues said he was always a gentleman, no matter what his positions were.

“Today we lost a senator whose stature in Congress had few equals,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement. “Senator Jesse Helms was a leading voice and courageous champion for the many causes he believed in.”

I was reading a news story yesterday about the big difference in the amount of money raised by Senator Obama vs Senator McCain. Not surprisingly, Obama has raised a lot more. But the article didn’t bother to mention the fact that most of the money was needed for Obama’s fight against Clinton for the nomination.

The Wall Street Journal finally makes an apples-to-apples comparison:

On the money front, how do Sens. Obama and McCain stack up? No contest, it seems. Since the campaign began, Mr. Obama has raised a staggering $295-plus million, versus Mr. McCain’s almost $122 million. But that’s misleading.

Mr. Obama spent a lot to win the nomination. So how much cash did he and his rival have when the general election effectively began in June? As of May 31, Mr. Obama had $43.1 million on hand while Mr. McCain had $31.6 million – a significant but not overwhelming advantage.

There is also the cash raised by the Republican and Democratic National Committees. Each candidate depends on the party committees for certain expenditures – registration, voter identification and get-out-the-vote drives, materials distributed by volunteers, even some advertising. Here, the Republicans had $53.5 million in hand on May 31, versus the Democrats’ paltry $4 million. Thus Mr. McCain and the RNC have $38 million more than Mr. Obama and the DNC.

If Mr. Obama maintains his prodigious fund-raising pace, he could overtake Mr. McCain and the RNC. But that’s not guaranteed. In May, Mr. Obama raised $23.3 million and the DNC $4.8 million; but Mr. McCain raised $21.5 million and the RNC $24.4 million. Mr. Obama’s Internet-driven fund raising may require a renewed sense of urgency, crisis and energy that may be hard to gin up until the race heats up with the conventions in late August.

Pork spending, an increase in corporate taxes, and the already much discussed cigarette tax are some of the highlights of the 2009 budget the Massachusetts legislature just threw over the fence to Gov Patrick. Patrick’s happy because his initiatives are all included. The rest of us may not be so pleased when the new budget hits our wallets.

A few tidbits from State House News Service, July 3:

The Legislature sent to Gov. Deval Patrick their version of the $28.223 billion budget for the fiscal year that started Tuesday. In the House, 133 liked it and 19 didn’t, and in the Senate it went 29 to 5, party lines in both. The House-Senate budget duel was not as compelling as in past years, in part because everyone agreed that this was a year for measured austerity, which is what they said they practiced.

And thus was $10,000 allocated for the “Santa Train” at the Palmer Winter Festival, which had been sidelined last year because festival planners could not afford the liability insurance. In a statement, Senate Ways and Means vice chair Stephen Brewer exulted, “I was very upset when I learned the Santa Train was to be cancelled last year. This train is often the first introduction to Santa that area children have … It is my hope that with this money, the [organizers] will be able to secure the proper insurance in time to run the Santa Train.”

To make about $500 million worth of the spending plan possible, lawmakers agreed Tuesday to a corporate tax hike that Republicans proclaimed the largest in state history, culminating a protracted debate over tax policy that dates back to the long-ago days when Patrick wasn’t describing House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi as a “hero,” as he did Wednesday, and when DiMasi had a different threshold for the “fair share” of the tax burden borne by businesses.

The sops to businesses were explanations from Democrats that the bill was really about tax “fairness,” and Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei tried to wager a dinner with Revenue Committee co-chair Cindy Creem that the Legislature wouldn’t adhere to its promise to lower the overall corporate excise rate in 2010.

The most amusing part is that the legislature now expects Deval to exercise restraint and veto some of the spending. You’re kidding me, right?!?!

Total tax increase for the week, which included an array of smaller measures, was about $800 million, not bad when you consider that Friday is a holiday. Republicans were splutteringly mad with the conference report, which confusingly exceeded what either branch had agreed upon just a few months earlier, even as the economy atrophied. And Senate budget leaders conceded, even while recommending their colleagues vote on the budget, that unilateral spending cuts by the governor could be necessary.

It sure seemed fishy that Merck would push the Boston legislature to mandate Gardasil HPV vaccines for all teenage girls in the state almost before the vaccine hit the streets. I am not one to experiment on my daughter. I doubt many parents will. But if there is a medicine with a proven track record of preventing serious disease, disease that she is likely to get without the medicine, then my husband and I will make sure she’s treated. But Gardasil is one big unknown.

Merck claimed it would prevent cervical cancer by targeting human papillomavirus. Turns out HPV is not a necessary precursor for all types of cervical cancer. Turns out Gardasil has some nasty side effects and now we know that Gardasil is causing death.

Normally, I’m 100% behind pharmaceutical companies. Their asthma medications have saved my life more than once. But this is appalling behavior, pushing an unproven medication on such a vulnerable slice of our society, pre-teen and teenage girls.

This from WorldNetDaily:

“Anaphylactic shock,” “foaming at mouth,” “grand mal convulsion,” “coma” and “now paralyzed” are a few of the startling descriptions included in a new federal report describing the complications from Merck & Co.’s Gardasil medication for sexually transmitted human papillomavirus – which has been proposed as mandatory for all schoolgirls.

The document was obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by Judicial Watch, a Washington group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, and it has details of 10 deaths just since September.

“Given all the questions about Gardasil, the best public health policy would be to re-evaluate its safety and to prohibit its distribution to minors. In the least, governments should rethink any efforts to mandate or promote this vaccine for children,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

The organization’s work uncovered reports of about one death each month since last fall, bringing the total death toll from the drug to at least 18 and as many as 20. There also were 140 “serious” reports of complications including about three dozen classified as life-threatening, 10 spontaneous abortions and half a dozen cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

The document reveals the case of an 18-year-old woman who got the Gardasil vaccine, was found unconscious that evening, and died. Another woman, age 19, got the drug and the next morning was found dead in her bed.

The new documents also reveal a total of 8,864 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System records, up from a total of 3,461 that had been reported in a document just last fall.

WND previously has reported how Merck was lobbying state lawmakers to require the vaccination, but said it would quit the campaign after its activities were unveiled.

WND also reported when a key researcher into human papillomavirus, which is targeted by Gardasil, reported it needed more testing, and how even the Centers for Disease Control suggested the vaccine should not be mandatory.

That, however, has not diverted the building campaign to have legislatures adopt mandatory vaccination plans.

The target of the vaccine is cervical cancer, since studies show that those who have HPV have a higher chance of later developing cervical cancer. However, opponents note that such cancers develop most often in older women, while the plan is to require girls as young as 11 or 12 years old to be inoculated. They cite the lack of evidence that the vaccine would have an impact later in life.

A Judicial Watch report said, “Even though Gardasil will not be fully tested for safety until 2009, physicians are already pushing it as a routine, harmless vaccine. Merck’s aggressive advertisement campaign tells young girls that their lives could be ‘one less’ affected by cervical cancer and that, ‘It’s your turn to help guard against cervical cancer.’”

The report also estimated it will cost as much as $2 billion to buy vaccinations for the nation’s poorest girls.

“This vaccine will be more expensive than all other childhood vaccines put together,” concluded John Schiller, a National Cancer Institute investigator.

A new public policy question will hopefully appear on ballots across Massachusetts in November.

Shall the representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation distributing $450 million from the “Rainy Day” stabilization fund due to the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, for Residential property tax relief?

From everyone I’ve talked to, the answer will be a resounding YES! Signatures are being collected now and are due July 9th at town halls.

Pledge your support today to 450million.org and start collecting signatures in your town. We can’t let Beacon  Hill continue to ignore us. And for goodness sake, if your legislator was one of the ones who voted against returning the funds to our towns, where the money rightfully belongs, DON’T VOTE THEM BACK INTO OFFICE!

Last fall, our state legislators were faced with an opportunity to provide us with significant relief through two proposals to send $450 million back to our cities and towns. The first came in the form of a one-time, unrestricted local aid payment; the second would have provided much needed property tax relief.

Both were struck down in purely partisan votes, leaving Massachusetts residents to continue their battle with no help from the Legislature.

To add insult to injury, this money had been meant for us from the beginning.

In late 2001, the legislature decided to divert a portion of the state lottery money to the “rainy day” stabilization fund to make up for the anticipated drag on the economy as a result of the September 11th attacks. For three years, this money accumulated in the rainy day fund to the tune of $450 million dollars.

Since that time, municipality after municipality across the state has been forced to choose between voting in property tax overrides or cutting government services, like police, fire, school nurses and teachers.

Here’s how they voted.

If the government can’t control it’s spending, then we voters will have to be the adults in this relationship and give them less money to fritter away. We all have budgets we have to work within and there are many years where we have to figure out how to spend less than we did the year before. So why should the government get to behave differently? This in today’s Boston Herald:

A measure to repeal the state income tax vaulted another hurdle yesterday after the state verified enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

“In the face of $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, skyrocketing heating oil costs, exploding home foreclosures and 28 straight years of property tax increases on Massachusetts homes, ending the income tax will give desperately needed financial relief to Massachusetts families,” said Carla Howell, chairwoman of the Committee for Small Government.

The group gathered more than 15,000 signatures so voters could weigh in on the question on Nov. 4.

Secretary of State William Galvin’s office certified more than 12,000 signatures yesterday, topping the 11,099 needed to get on the ballot.

Howell said the group will turn in more signatures tomorrow. According to Howell, the measure would save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year.

Voters nearly passed a similar measure six years ago, and they succeeded in passing a ballot question in 2000 to gradually roll back the income tax. The measure up for vote is meant to prevent lawmakers from stopping the repeal like they halted the rollback in 2002.

According to the State House News Service, the Massachusetts legislature is about to increase taxes by nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars. (SHNS, 7/1)

MassGOP Executive Director Rob Willington said, “This Tax Bill should be renamed to ‘An Act To Cripple the Economy of the Commonwealth.’ The people of Massachusetts don’t need more taxes, they need lower taxes and less government. Instead of raising taxes, Governor Patrick should explain why he hasn’t delivered the property tax relief that Candidate Patrick promised.”

Candidate Deval’s Broken Promise of the Day:
“I believe a rational revenue structure, sensible tax policy and fair distribution of state resources to cities and towns – so that property taxes can be lowered and kept low – are essential elements of a true partnership between state and local government.” (Deval Patrick – ‘Moving Massachusetts Forward’ p. 36)

Man, Governor Deval Patrick certainly knows how to get in trouble. This is an educated man with plenty of professional experience. Does he ever stop and think before he acts? Well, now he and DiMasi are in the middle of another ethics probe.

This time Patrick’s in trouble for needlessly spending $13M on software for the state, software that Ohio just installed for $2.9M. The software vendor, Cognos, bragged about its strong ties with Speaker DiMasi. The sad part is, if you read to the end of this clip, it’s all about software that wasn’t even recommended in the state’s latest technology analysis.

This from the Boston Globe:

Governor Deval Patrick’s administration overspent by millions of dollars when it rushed to sign a $13 million computer software contract that has since been canceled and is now the subject of a state ethics investigation, according to technology analysts.

In making the purchase last year from Cognos Inc., the Patrick administration agreed to distribute the sophisticated management software to 20,000 state government users, many of whom, according to analysts, would lack either the skills or the need to use it. But by distributing the software to that many employees, it dramatically inflated the price.

“It is certainly not a tool for everyone in the organization,” said Theodore Grossman, professor of technology operations and information management at Babson College. “It requires a level of sophistication to use it and understand the results.”

While the Patrick administration paid $13 million to Cognos, Ohio put similar Cognos software in the hands of 6,000 employees. The Ohio price tag: just $2.9 million.

A spokesman for Cognos declined to answer questions about the difference in the prices charged the two states or about how the company negotiated its contract with the Patrick administration.

The Patrick administration rushed to sign the contract with Cognos, the highest by far of three bidders, at the same time last year that House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi was expressing a strong personal interest in the software procurement. The Globe reported in April that a sales agent working on behalf of Cognos, Joseph Lally, boasted of his personal connections to DiMasi and told a key state official involved in the selection process that DiMasi wanted Cognos to win the bid.

The Globe has also reported that Cognos was a top sponsor of a charity golf tournament hosted by DiMasi at his home course, Ipswich Country Club.

The Cognos contract was harshly criticized last year by the state inspector general, and state Republicans have asked for an investigation by the State Ethics Commission.

DiMasi has repeatedly declined to be interviewed about the contract. A spokesman for DiMasi has said the speaker had “absolutely no involvement” in the administration’s bidding process, but confirmed that DiMasi had met with the head of the state’s technology division, Bethann Pepoli, to advocate generally for the software.

Patrick administration officials have also declined to be interviewed on the details of the contract. Anne Margulies - the state’s current chief technology official, who did not hold the post at the time of the award last year - said she believes that the state did not overspend.

Patrick officials could have avoided the excessive price tag of the Cognos contract if they had looked in their own files.

The administration ignored or overlooked a detailed analysis of state computer technology needs commissioned by the state in 2005. The analysis contained recommendations for some of the type of specialized management software but on a much smaller scale, meaning that fewer people would have been required to use it. It did not mention Cognos at all and recommended other vendors.

Apparently, Shrewsbury was afraid they’d lose their Town Manager, Dan Morgado. So last night they gave him a generous pay hike of $20,000, eventually bringing his salary to $140,000. What Mr. Morgado forgot to do was to get it written into his contract that he should have the highest salary on the town payroll…like we do in Worcester ::sigh::

Btw, if Mr. Morgado is the one responsible for the mess on Route 9 in Shrewsbury, maybe the Board of Selectmen should reconsider the raise.

This from the Worcester Telegram:

In an effort to hold onto Daniel J. Morgado as town manager, the Board of Selectmen has negotiated a deal with Mr. Morgado that will extend his contract to Sept. 30, 2015.

“You have a good understanding of what it takes to run a town,” Selectman Maurice M. DePalo said last night, making a motion to approve the deal. The five-member board voted unanimously to extend Mr. Morgado’s current contract, which expires Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2012; and to approve a succeeding three-year contract to end on Sept. 30, 2015.

“We’re very pleased to be able to ensure that Dan Morgado will continue as the town manager of Shrewsbury to 2015. I think he has done tremendous work for the town,” said James M. McCaffrey, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

Mr. Morgado, who has been with the town since 1997, has received the same annual 3 percent cost-of-living increases as all nonunion employees. An evaluation by the Personnel Board determined that his salary of $117,585 was more than $20,000 behind the median comparable town manager salary in Massachusetts. At the recommendation of the Personnel Committee, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee, town meeting in May overwhelmingly agreed to increase Mr. Morgado’s salary by $20,000. Several town meeting members praised his work as town manager and said they feared the town could lose him to a better-paying job.

The Personnel Committee said although he is the town’s chief executive officer, Mr. Morgado makes a lot less than School Superintendent Anthony J. Bent, who is paid $153,849 plus $5,000 in deferred compensation; Police Chief James J. Hester Jr., who receives a salary of $121,613; and Thomas Josie, general manager of the town’s electric light company, who is paid $147,872.

Beginning today, Mr. McCaffrey said, Mr. Morgado’s salary will increase to $130,525. On June 30, 2009, it will go to $140,525.

It is extremely unclear whether government hob-nobbing does any good for the business community. Rather than send Gov Patrick and his crew to China, we should send a contingent funded by the manufacturing community to make the outreach. At least Jack Healy from the Worcester MassMEP, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and manufacturers like Nypro know what, if anything, they need from the Chinese labor pool.

Instead, we get Gov Patrick spending inordinate amounts of money on over-the-top accomodations. This from the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune:

They traveled more than 15,000 miles to stay at the luxurious Grand Hyatt Beijing and St. Regis Shanghai, and enjoy cocktails, spring rolls and pork dumplings at the private China Club Beijing — where the “privileged few … step back in time to experience what China was like during the Qing Dynasty.”

The self-described delights of the China Club (”fit for an emperor”) and the sights of Beijing and Shanghai were incidental to the stated purpose of the trip to China by a delegation led by Gov. Deval Patrick.

The goal was to promote Bay State clean-energy companies and secure a coveted agreement for direct flights between Beijing and Boston, state officials say.

But the trip last December and Patrick’s plans to travel to Israel and India are raising questions about the value of the international trips that officials call trade missions but critics call junkets.

Trade missions were all but eliminated under Patrick’s predecessor, Gov. Mitt Romney, but are back on the agenda under Patrick.

The China trip cost a total of just over $312,000, with taxpayers paying $236,000 of that.

Expenses included $107,000 in airfare, $58,000 in hotel bills and $53,575 for “hospitality” and receptions, including $14,240 for the China Club shindig.

A $3,050 video crew documented the visit for posterity.

Patrick will travel to Israel in September to talk up the state’s biotech industry and its new $1 billion life sciences initiative. And in 2009, he plans to visit India, bringing high-ranking officials and business executives with him.

The trade missions are part of Patrick’s ambitious agenda to drum up business for Massachusetts.

But the value of these missions is hard to quantify, and state export data suggests they have had little impact on trade in the past.

Critics contend the trips are a waste of taxpayer dollars and are better left to private businesses.

“Most trade occurs between private entities,” said Steven Poftak, research director with the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank based in Boston. “These trips typically culminate in government-to-government contacts that don’t necessarily translate into revenue for private industry.”

MassGOP Executive Director Rob Willington said, “Taxpayer funded junkets like these are inexcusable when the people of Massachusetts are being crushed by skyrocketing property taxes and gas prices. Instead of spending $236,000 of our money on lavish trips, Governor Patrick should explain why he hasn’t delivered the property tax relief that Candidate Patrick promised.”