Deval Hands Opponents A Great Issue
by Brian Maloney, September 11th, 2007 at 12:44pm
Thanks to Governor Deval Patrick’s ongoing inability to grasp public sentiment, opponents have been handed a fresh load of fodder.
And due to Patrick’s latest misstep, local talk show hosts in position to challenge the governor should benefit greatly.
Deval apparently thought his new proposal to make private many of the Bay State’s most important motorways and bridges would appear visionary to the media and voters. So far, however, all he’s done is create fears that tolls will go through the roof.
From the Boston Herald’s Casey Ross:
Gov. Deval Patrick is launching a detailed examination of options for leasing the state’s cash-starved bridges and roads to private companies, a move that critics fear could expose motorists to crippling toll hikes, the Herald has learned.
Patrick’s budget office is seeking to hire a financial company to analyze the impact of privatizing transportation facilities as part of a broader review of the state’s massive, $19 billion transportation funding deficit, according to state documents.
If approved, a deal to privatize could mean leasing the Massachusetts Turnpike, Tobin Bridge or Big Dig tunnels to for-profit companies that would pay billions of dollars for the right to collect tolls from motorists for their use.
[...]
But critics raised concerns that privatization - which would provide a badly needed cash infusion almost immediately - could also lead to sharp toll increases without public approval. They say private companies would be primarily motivated by their bottom lines, not the interests of daily commuters.
“It may look great up front, but taxpayers can get left holding the bag down the road,” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading). He said private partnerships can offer significant financial benefits, but the state would have to be extremely careful about evaluating such an arrangement.
In some states, deals to privatize highways have led to huge cost increases for commuters. In Indiana, for example, a deal to privatize that state’s toll road led to a 100 percent up-front toll hike, and the possibility of 7 percent annual increases over the life of a 75-year lease.
Officials in Pennsylvania have also faced sharp criticism over the potential cost of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private company. Like Massachusetts, officials in that state are trying to close a massive transportation funding gap by considering plans to erect new tolls or privatize public assets.
Given the Bay State’s shaky economic outlook, one would imagine Deval would do anything in his power to avoid looking like the Guy Who Wants To Make It Even More Expensive To Live Here. Maybe our floundering guv can call this one the Massachusetts Population Reduction Act of 2007.
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5 Comments
1. BigBish | September 11th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
And no one will care…. because no one will pick up the ball & run with it , because anyone who’s not giving the Rodney Allen Rippey of Massachusetts politics the verbal reacharound is left or has a voice loud enough to be heard. Internet petitions and e-mail drives mean nothing compared to a real human voice. The days of Jerry Williams at a rally on the State House steps, or phone call drives to the State House are gone .
2. The Stormin' Mormon | September 11th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
When Weld, Cellucci, Swift and I suggested privatization of any sort, the Union thugs got all hot and bothered about it.
Will they now kiss Deval’s ring and give this their seal of approval (in return for not killing the job on the Big Dig or some other quid pro quo)? Or will Deval kowtow to Big Labor and give the other 90% of us the shaft?
I guess we’ll have to wait until Jim Braude tells Deval what to do on this one… Braude is the power behind the thrown, after all.
3. The Stormin' Mormon | September 11th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
When Weld, Cellucci, Swift and I suggested privatization of any sort, the Union thugs got all hot and bothered about it.
Will they now kiss Deval’s ring and give this their seal of approval (in return for not killing the job on the Big Dig or some other quid pro quo)? Or will Deval kowtow to Big Labor and give the other 90% of us the shaft?
I guess we’ll have to wait until Jim Braude tells Deval what to do on this one… Braude is the power behind the thrown, after all.
4. raccoonradio | September 11th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Well, Mitt (hey, sorry to hear of that break-in
at your HQ), I do remember those bumper
stickers that said “Privatization: A Weld
$cam…”
And it is true: Williams got his listeners
to call or write their legislators (pre-Net),
organized rallies against seat belt law,
New Braintree prison, etc. No such rallies
now though we do see anti-war rallies, plus a few dozen fans of prog talk
radio will hold rallies when it gets dropped
in their town (or is rumored to be dropped).
You could get a contact high just looking at
them!
If the Pike gets privatized, who will get the
toll taker jobs–the hack relatives in
there now, or someone else?
5. Lexi | September 12th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I happened to catch a few minutes of the Felon this morning and he had Wendy Murphy on - he was defending the toll takers! Hope Howie heard that one. What a kiss-*ss!