With the whopping $765 million dollar budget gap, former Governor Deval Patrick left his successor and Bay State taxpayers on the hook for a state government that has a spending problem.

Like a proverbial runaway train, state government continues to function and move along no matter who is governor or when they are sworn in. In some ways, this is a good thing, but much of what happens is poorly prioritized. The first task for new governor Charlie Baker and his team, then, is try to slow the train down, because continued spending will widen the gap further and risk damage to the state’s economy.

Numerous good ideas defeated, and term limit removal worrisome

Boston, MA: The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to promoting better government and right-of-center fiscal and economic policy solutions, today applauded the state House’s efforts to ensure greater transparency in committee  operations, but expressed frustration that many amendments to promote better government were shot down and that term limits on the speakership were removed.

"Making committee votes available to the public is long overdue,” said Paul Craney, the group’s executive director. “While we appreciate the House voting in favor of making more of their voting record public, they barely managed a single when they could have hit a grand slam."

Francis Bellotti, a former Massachusetts Attorney General and one time political opponent of Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-MA) described Brooke’s passing in a recent Boston Globe op-ed as an “end of an era in politics that will never return: an era of true trailblazers and political powerhouses.”

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of Senator Edward W. Brooke as we lost a truly remarkable public servant. A war hero, a champion of equal rights for all, and an example that barriers can be broken, Senator Brooke accomplished more than most aspire to. Our party, Commonwealth, and nation are better for his service.