If you’re confused about the tax standoff on Beacon Hill, you’re not alone. Gov. Deval Patrick is going to the mat with legislative leaders over the mere possibility that transportation revenues might come up short four years from now, long after he is gone.
Patrick has latched onto the possibility that tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike between Route 128 and the New York border might come down in 2017, creating a $135 million shortfall in transportation funding. He wants to make sure his successor is not faced with that shortfall by authorizing a 3-cent hike in the state gasoline tax that would only kick in if the tolls come down.
Since House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray have shown no interest in his contingency plan, the governor is threatening to veto a $500 million transportation funding bill that is badly needed now. He is also planning to cut the state budget by $500 million to offset the loss of the $500 million in transportation funds he is vetoing.
No one is quite sure what to make of Patrick’s actions. The tolls will only come down if Turnpike bonds are paid off and state officials determine the Pike is in a good state of repair. Nothing would prevent Patrick’s successor from keeping the tolls in place by determining they are needed to keep the Pike in good repair, but Patrick apparently doesn’t want to take any chances.
Is Patrick taking a highly principled stand? Is he worried about a Republican replacing him? Or is he just mad that the Legislature didn’t go along with his original $1 billion transportation funding proposal? No one knows for sure.
The dispute is so minor and the stakes so high that the Globe incorrectly suggests the battle is over taxes, with Patrick pushing for more gas tax revenue and the Legislature refusing to go along. Alas, it’s only about hypotheticals and the efforts of a lame duck governor to make sure his successor doesn’t shortchange the transportation budget in the future.
— BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
Gov. Deval Patrick says he would back a wind turbine health study, the Herald reports. Meanwhile, he tells the Globe why he is in no hurry to contest the repeal of the state’s mandate that employers provide health insurance to their workers.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Officials at the Northern Essex District Registry of Deeds warn residents about a Delaware company charging $83 for deeds and other documents available for free online from the Registry, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Residents of the South End of Springfield contemplate what life might be like with a casino.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and most of his Democrat colleagues, frustrated by Republicans blocking administration nominees, are moving to place limits on filibusters, bringing dire warnings from the GOP.
Governing handicaps races for governor across the country and says Republicans have good shots in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushes a bill to rein in bank risks, the Associated Press reports (via WBUR).
The Senate majority leader in Washington state proposes fining legislators if they take too long to pass a budget, Governing reports.
ELECTIONS
Some of the Boston mayoral candidates are asking questions about the casino deal with Suffolk Downs, with Bill Walczak suggesting at a CommonWealth forum that any agreement negotiated by Mayor Tom Menino should be short-term so it can be renegotiated, the Herald reports. The candidates at the forum also offered their views on bringing more diversity to the city’s police department.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Penn National Gaming proposes a slots parlor in Tewksbury, the Lowell Sun reports. The two gambling firms seeking to build slots parlors in Milford and Leominster pass initial state background checks, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
A pair of state lawmakers are pushing separate bills creating tax credits for angel investors, CommonWealth reports.
Attorney General Martha Coakley says the foreclosure problem is lessening but it’s far from over.
EDUCATION
A bipartisan group of senators announced yesterday they reached a deal to keep student loan rates from doubling but that plan may be short lived after number crunchers determined it could cost $22 billion over the next 10 years.
HEALTH CARE
Hospitals are using big data to track the practices of doctors, the Wall Street Journal reports.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A new mysterious Cape Wind foe arrives on the scene from an ice cream shop in New Hampshire, CommonWealth reports.
A planned foreclosure auction of the Somerset Power Plant, whose owners owe the town more than $250,000 in delinquent taxes, has been postponed for two weeks but no word as to why.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Albert DeSalvo, the man who claimed to be the Boston strangler, is linked by DNA evidence for the first time to one of the strangler’s 11 victims, WBUR reports. The Globe account is here.
A Boston police officer has been suspended with pay after Plymouth police discovered explosives in a shed at his former house, where his estranged wife lives and where police were recently called for a domestic disturbance.
In the National Review, columnist Michelle Malkin wonders about “America’s sociopath fetish” among women who are attracted to criminals such as Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and accused murderer Aaron Hernandez.
An adult arcade in Swansea has been shut down after the Attorney General’s office executed a search warrant for possible illegal gaming.
MEDIA
Dan Kennedy takes issue with the Boston Globe and New York Times correction policies, which draws praise from the Times ombudsman and a rebuke from a Globe spokeswoman. The Washington Post comes under fire for taking days to correct errors in a column.
The Nieman Journalism Lab takes a look at another collaboration between news outlets, this time in New Orleans.