What to say about a legislative year that began with the near-unanimous re-election of a soon-to-be-indicted speaker of the House and ended with state finances still in disarray despite the approval of a 25 percent sales-tax hike?
Beverly state Rep. Mary Grant may have shown she's smarter than many of her colleagues in opting not to seek another term next November. Another session like the one that adjourned early Thursday morning and incumbency may be the worst label a candidate could wear.
Despite all the springtime rhetoric about "reform before revenues," the session just past fell well short of achieving the fundamental changes in personnel practices and policies necessary to achieve significant savings. Typical of the Beacon Hill approach to responsible spending was the vote to cut the state's share of Quinn Bill incentives for local (but not state) police, and leave the cities and towns holding the bag for the balance.
But such is the arrogance of the Democratic majority in the Legislature that a sitting senator has to be caught on camera shoving cash down her sweater before anyone makes the case for her removal.
Thus, it should have come as no surprise that both chambers would adjourn for their holiday recess this week (we should all get so much vacation time) with plenty of unfinished business still on the table. They couldn't even be bothered to do away with the notorious "hack holidays" — Evacuation Day (aka St. Patrick's Day) and Bunker Hill — as recommended by the governor.
So it's even money state and Suffolk County employees will be enjoying those days off next year while the rest of us — at least those of us still employed — go off to work as usual. And that's just the least of what the Legislature failed to accomplish.
There's a state budget still $600 million out of balance — despite the sales-tax hike and a brand-new tax on alcoholic beverages. There's a regional transit system that's on the verge of collapse — literally, according to one expert, who has advised against riding the Red Line in some locations. And there's $250 million in federal education assistance now at risk due to the House's failure to act on an education reform bill.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo — who replaced the disgraced Salvatore DiMasi earlier this year — says the delay had nothing to do with Gov. Deval Patrick's grandstanding for the legislation this week at a charter school in the community next door to DeLeo's hometown of Winthrop. And he promises it will be the first item on the agenda when his chamber returns to work in January.
But that's only if teachers union lobbyists aren't able to use the holidays to convince friendly legislators to gut the bill and DeLeo and company can set some sort of record for speedy deliberation when they return. Applications for the federal aid that will go to those states that demonstrate a genuine commitment to innovative practices must be received in Washington by mid-January, after all.
So while legislators look forward to a bountiful Thanksgiving and festive December, those who depend on state assistance — cities and towns, the homeless, the mentally ill — will spend the next few weeks wondering where the ax will fall next. Happy holidays indeed.
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