Nelson Benton
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll terms a ballot question that would allow municipal officials to implement changes in employee health coverage without union approval a last resort.
The idea of seeking a popular vote on "plan design" was raised at a meeting hosted by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino last week. Area mayors in attendance were Driscoll and Beverly's Bill Scanlon.
Cities and towns need relief now, especially with the possibility of further reductions in local aid this year, Driscoll said. That's why they're seeking to increase pressure on a skittish Legislature to approve plan design immediately.
At this point, the ballot question would have to wait until the 2012 election, Driscoll pointed out, and "there will be too many communities in receivership by then."
Allowing cities and towns to either move employees to the less expensive Group Insurance Commission plan run by the state, or modifying plans on their own, could save them hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions, annually. But thus far, lawmakers, and even the governor, have been reluctant to take on the unions who like things just the way they are — despite the fact some communities like Peabody are now spending 20 percent of their budgets on health care alone.
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Sounds like an interesting encounter down in D.C. this week between a delegation representing the state's Workforce Investment Boards and freshman Sen. Scott Brown.
According to Salem attorney Bill Tinti, who heads the North Shore WIB, as well as the statewide coalition of job-training agencies, they were able to arrange a quick meeting with Brown in a hallway outside his new quarters in the Russell Senate Office Building. Their mission: Persuade him to break with his fellow Republicans and vote for an amendment to a jobs bill that provides $1.3 billion for youth jobs nationwide.
Tinti notes that only a quarter of those ages 16 to 24 who want to work are able to obtain employment these days. The additional money, he said, would provide jobs for some 7,000 Bay State youths this summer, including 400 on the North Shore.
But the Republican leadership was determined to scuttle the legislation, and it was obvious Brown was not going to break ranks with the party this time. Tinti relates that the new senator had "that deer-in-the-headlights look" as he tried to explain his opposition to the WIB delegation.
With Republicans united in opposition, the amendment failed to get the 60 votes needed to make it part of the overall jobs package, which included an extension of unemployment benefits, that passed on a 62-36 vote (with Brown also opposed) Wednesday.
Brown, in a statement, said, "Washington needs to get its fiscal house in order and start living within its means, just like families across this country are doing during these tough economic times. Today, I opposed legislation that will add more than $100 billion to our already record-high national deficit, and violate the PAYGO pledge. We cannot keep burdening future generations under unsustainable mountains of debt."
With his promise of independence, it appears Brown will be the subject of heavy lobbying, with every vote carefully scrutinized, between now and 2012, when he runs for a full, six-year term.
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Sen. John Kerry declared his support this week for a bill that would allow gay men and women to serve openly in the military. According to Kerry, "We're overdue to wipe away the last stain of legal discrimination in our Armed Services."
