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Our broken media and Charlie Baker's campaign for governor

The Boston Herald published a campaign piece for Charlie Baker today in its Business and Markets section.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Charlie-Baker-bix-survey_zpsf3cd6b27.jpg~original)

The Baker campaign may have called the Herald's attention to a survey of business owners, which is not a scientific poll, "by Thumbtack, a website that matches customers to businesses, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation" a conservative free-market "stink tank" that focuses on entrepreneurship and public school privatization.

The survey gave the state "a D+ for small-business friendliness and an F for its environmental regulations." The website that reports the scores says you have to contact the author to get information about the survey data and methodology.

Baker is quoted, “I was proud to help governors Weld and Cellucci cut taxes 27 times, reduce regulations." Baker seems to be bragging about tax cuts that left the Commonwealth under funded.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/MA-Revenue-Lost-Tax-Cuts-98_zps73319e56.jpg~original)

Though he runs as a moderate, Charlie Baker is making sounds like a low tax, no regulation, tea party Republican. The problem with those politics is that the tax cuts are for the rich, that repealing environmental protections allows industry to pollute our communities, and that when you cut taxes, you under fund early education, environment and recreation, higher education, transportation, water system, economic development, state aid for district K-12 education, local aid to invest in out cities and towns, and public health.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Cuts-in-State-Budget-2001-2_zpsb9b886d1.jpg~original)

The Herald reports it sought a response from state government: "A spokesman for the.. Office of .. Economic Development declined to comment on the survey and Baker’s remarks, but pointed to the University of Nebraska, which in 2012 ranked Massachusetts first in its State Entrepreneurship Index, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which this year ranked Massachusetts ninth in economic performance and sixth in the technology and entrepreneurship category on its Enterprising States Dashboard."

Wow, I didn't know Massachusetts ranked #1st in University of Nebraska's State Entrepreneurship Index or that we ranked 9th out of 50 in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's economic performance ranking, and 6th out of 50 in the technology and entrepreneurship category. I wonder if this success has something to do with the investments we make in education and the middle class.

The harsh fact is that 95 percent of all income growth between 2009 and 2012 went to the 1 percent, thus 99% of Americans shared 5% of new income. This economic situation is not an act of god, it is a result of decisions made in Washington over the last 30 years. We don’t need tax cuts, we need leaders who will enact policy that builds a strong and prosperous middle class, and that lifts the poor by investing in them and their futures.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Median-Household-Income_zps43aa8417.jpg~original)

Here's one Massachusetts senator's take on "Five things we can do in Massachusetts to address the concentration of wealth and capital." And here's one US Senator from Massachusetts analysis of what happened to the middle class, and what we can do about it.

Baker concludes:"This survey should be an opportunity to fix what’s broken and expand opportunity for those left behind after the last eight ears of one-party rule on Beacon Hill."

I don't see agreement on "what's broken." Baker will have to make a better case than a survey authored at a right-wing free-market think tank in Kansas City, Mo. that comes to a very different conclusion than the University of Nebraska and US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Here's an idea Charlie, why do the rich in Massachusetts pay a smaller percentage of taxes than the poor and middle class? After you answer that question, tell us how you'd fix it.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/MA-State-and-Local-Taxes-By_zps26b8eb15.jpg~original)

With regard to Charlie Baker's "eight years of one-party rule on Beacon Hill," I cannot understand why Charlie would want to call attention to the fact that for at least eight years voters have not been interested in what Republicans are selling and that's after 16 years of Republican governors from 1991 to 2007 (if you can count the last two years of Mitt Romney's governorship when he traveled the US campaigning for president and disparaging us as a bunch of vegetarians. If felt better when I learned he hated 47% of Americans as takers and not just Massachusetts residents.)

In the spirit of Uncle Buck, I'd like to make a suggestion to Charlie Baker: Take this quarter, go downtown, and have a rat gnaw that thing off your face. Good day to you.

IMAGE(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk143/nfsagan/Uncle-Buck_zps56a8fc11.jpg~original)

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Comments

Well the free press to >50k subscribers is nothing compared to the free press given by the (D)ominated newsrooms everywhere else including here.

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Crest Whitestrips

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...Adam's blog is taken over by anonymous coward hit pieces on political figures.

"Though he runs as a moderate, Charlie Baker is making sounds like a low tax, no regulation, tea party Republican. The problem with those politics is that the tax cuts are for the rich, that repealing environmental protections allows industry to pollute our communities, and that when you cut taxes, you under fund early education, environment and recreation, higher education, transportation, water system, economic development, state aid for district K-12 education, local aid to invest in out cities and towns, and public health."

See, when you say 'Tea Party' that's a dog whistle. What you mean is to say 'people that are sick of seeing their hard earned tax dollars wasted by profligate government programs". See how dog whistles work? Any dog, any time.

The harsh fact is that the EPA is trying to basically classify rain water runoff as a pollutant full of phosphates. They want to keep it out of the Charles River and want communities to pay for rain water and storm water (when there's a lot of rain...) runoff to go to processing plants. This is happening in Bellingham, Milford and I think Franklin. Now, I'm all for not polluting the Charles, but really...rainwater runoff? Laugh all you want, but the plan is to do this all the way down the Charles, all mandates, no problem. A total waste. Is this the 'pollutants' you refer to?

There's a lot of private investing that can happen if it isn't crushed.

"The harsh fact is that 95 percent of all income growth between 2009 and 2012 went to the 1 percent, thus 99% of Americans shared 5% of new income. This economic situation is not an act of god, it is a result of decisions made in Washington over the last 30 years. We don’t need tax cuts, we need leaders who will enact policy that builds a strong and prosperous middle class, and that lifts the poor by investing in them and their futures. "

Oh, ya, Washington is doing its' utmost to help the middle class...any more help and the middle class will be totally gone.

Oh, his teeth aren't all that white, but neither are mine, too much coffee.

Problem?

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The anonymous dmcboston (Delorean Motor Company?) has too much coffee, denounces "anonymous hit pieces," proceeds to cast unsubstantiated aspersions on "Washington," the EPA, and dogs. No problem at all.

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between opinions and facts. That being the case, you will probably love it when this blog is taken over by people mocking others because of the way they look. I can see this blog as a target rich environment for those attacking:
the obese, the disabled, people with aide dogs, old people in nursing homes, little kids on chemo, members of the LGBT community (especially T). Ah yes, we are entering the Golden Age of "progressives". You can criticize what I THINK but I can't criticize what you DO. Lovely.
Paging Mr. Orwell...

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... that you will summon lots of your right-wing buddies to disrupt this forum?

Sort of _sounds_ like it might be.

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right wing not much better...what about the ones in the middle? Think Bell Curve. After all, our golden god, the current president, won by a 51-49 landslide.

You don't have to be a member of the John Birch Society to believe that Washington is run by fools.

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Great comment, but I think you could have fit a couple more completely unrelated right-wing talking points in. Grade: B+

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Believe it or not, west of 128, there are towns that exist. They're in Massachusetts. You gonna pay for the EPA mandates, anon (not verified)?

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Doubling down reduces your grade to a B-, dmcboston.

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128 Interstate 95, there are towns ....

FIxed it for you.

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Are you upset about the Uncle Buck reference? Yeah, it's off color but no worse than a political cartoon. I take it personally when rich people abuse the trust of the middle class and the poor so I responded with the same lack of respect. Everything I wrote above that is sincere. You might not agree with my conclusion. That is your right. Not one comment has engaged on the analysis.

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Facts are annoying things. I stand by what I said in my comment. Google (or better, duckduckgo) is your friend.

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"Taken over by anonymous coward hit pieces" .

  • LOL
  • I haven't taken anything over. You are a whiny tity baby.
  • 'Anonymous' is the the name I chose for my Universal Hub login. I've been around here for over half a decade. You call me a coward because I post using my pseudonym. You do the same: dmcboston. Coward.
  • I won't waste my time responding to an ignorant rant but if you want to put forth an alternate assessment of Boston Herald coverage or Charlie Baker and provide evidence as I have done, I might choose to engage with you.
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"...Adam's blog is taken over by anonymous coward hit pieces on political figures."

Sorry, was fooled by your clever name. Clever. Did I say clever?

"I haven't taken anything over. You are a whiny tity baby." Adam won't let me post shit. But, to be fair, I never asked, so, that's fair. Blog is too much work anyway.
Um, ya, I am a tity baby, but I don't make too much of it.

"You call me a coward because I post using my pseudonym. You do the same: dmcboston. Coward. "
Actually, there's a good probability that some folks here might know who I am. Hey, pizza at the Pleasant anytime. Not a coward, just assumed from your clever name...OH, SHIT!!! You're Dan Shaugnessey!!!

"I won't waste my time responding to an ignorant rant"

Neither will I. Wait a second...

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WashingtonPost.com:

Compared with 2002, the percentage of full-time U.S. journalists who claim to be Democrats has dropped 8 percentage points in 2013 to about 28 percent, moving this figure closer to the overall population percentage of 30 percent.

An even larger drop was observed among journalists who said they were Republicans in 2013 (7.1 percent) than in 2002 (18 percent), but the 2013 figure is still notably lower than the percentage of U.S. adults who identified with the Republican Party (24 percent)

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You're not really 'independent' if you always donate and vote (D)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19113485

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"independent" if you're forced to choose a party in order to exercise your right to vote either.

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What browser is that?? Is that what Opera looks like these days?

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Must be the state gov internet browser from the sounds of the article.

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What Globe writer wrote this drivel?

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So, the Herald has finally reached the point of publishing right wing press releases as news. Cuts out the cost of hiring writers.

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reporting news "stories" that are nothing more than regurgitated Twitter comments.

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or reddit.

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Boston.com isn't the Globe, though. It's fluff but it's offered as fluff. The Globe has seen better days but they actually have a staff that shows up for events that happen outside of Foley's.

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with the Globe all these years. What blatant hypocrisy.

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Now that you mention it, I have appreciated the way their reporting is connected to actual reality. Maybe the Herald should take a hint?

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I don't get what you're trying to argue with that tax graph.

Since MA state income tax is flat, isn't the all the difference due to local taxes (i.e. mostly property tax?). Maybe poorer communities could vote to lower their own property taxes if they want to pay the same percentage as the top quintile? Or sell their property, and take the rental deduction?

Or maybe you're arguing that our economic success in MA is due to a relatively flat income tax?

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Seems like anonymous is arguing that that folks in the top 80% should be paying at least 9.5%, not 9.3% or even as little as 6%, which is what the top 1% pay.

Point is, Mass tax burden is really regressive and it should be fixed.

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Oh, I see! So we should end one party rule in MA because the Democrats have imposed a regressive tax structure! Got it.

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We get someone (either democrat or republican, I don't care) who will go in and really cut spending....starting with the bloated, useless State legislature. If Texas can survive with a part-time legislature, so can Mass.

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I don't know if I'd be using a state legislature that cut science out of it's school text books in favor of creationism as a model.

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How about Vermont? New Hampshire?

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How about a state with a comparable economy?

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Oh, that's the argument anonymous is making? That slashing government spending over the last decade made the MA economy strong? So we should throw out the Tea Party politicians that run the state and elect Republicans to raise taxes and restore spending levels so the economy gets weaker again?

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sounds very Suffolk University to me.

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How can tax cuts in MA be for the rich if the rich don't pay taxes?

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All candidates for Governor like to talk big about how they will be the Big One Who Will Fix Everything if you elect them. What you think needs to be fixed comes in different flavors, of course, and so do the candidates.

The unmentioned reality is that the Governor doesn't have much power to accomplish much all on his or her own. The Governor needs the fractious legislature to agree with them and give them things to sign, and working with those leaders, with their separate agendas, doesn't seem to enter into the campaign talk.

So, yes, Patrick hasn't done all that much. You know what? Baker talks big but will run into exactly the same problems because GOVERNORS ARE NOT CEOs! Both came from business backgrounds so they both know all the buzzwords and bluster and talk BIG GAME ... the problem is, they can't do the things they want in the way that they could in industry because our government is not a corporation! Ditto for Croakley and her pronouncements - the Governor's office isn't a law firm or district attorney's office, either!

Keep this in mind regardless which candidate you support or are listening to - being an effective governor does NOT mean Commanding the Ship of State - it means horse-trading, wheeling and dealing and cat-herding the house and senate.
The skill sets are different.

All of these candidates talk about what they will do - so ask yourself when they say what they say "how will they get it done"? Commanding it to be so will not be how it happens.

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I'd have to say that most of the content I've seen from Berwick have been what he stands for but not what "he's going to do". About the only thing I think I've heard him say he's "going to do" is repeal the casinos. The rest are what he wants to see happen.

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I've been watching the legislature fairly closely over the last year on debates about minimum wage, tipped wage, earned sick time, expanded bottle bill, expanding spending on charter schools and I've decided that the ma senate is fairly progressive and ambitions and the the ma house is conservative and owned by the business lobby. IMO, If you want a government that governs a little more for citizens and a little less fir special interests, pay attention to your choice for state rep.

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of the governors dilemma I have ever seen.

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