Democrats both on Beacon Hill and in New Hampshire were making a big deal this week of former Gov. Mitt Romney's role in getting the Bay State health reform law passed five years ago.
Their goal, clearly, was to hurt Romney's standing with the more conservative elements of the Republican Party who tie the Massachusetts program to the one promoted by President Obama and which they hope to see gutted in the next budget. Democrats would much prefer to see the president running against a Sarah Palin or Donald Trump than someone with Romney's business and governmental experience.
Of course if Americans truly favor those reforms, as Democrats insist is the case, the tactic could backfire. Indeed, you may hear some of those words of praise and see a picture of that cake declaring "MA Healthcare: A Model for the Nation. Thank you, Mitt!" in Romney's ads should he win the nomination.
Incidentally, a Suffolk University poll of Florida voters out this week shows Romney as the only Republican capable of beating Obama in the Sunshine State by a slim 43 percent to 42 percent margin.
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Obama threw down the gauntlet before the Republican Congress this week, saying he would prefer to raise taxes on the wealthiest rather than slash entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid to curb the federal deficit. The GOP claims tax increases would further stymie job growth in the U.S.
Voters can weigh in next year when the president, all 435 members of the House of Representatives, and a third of the country's senators will be on the ballot.
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The state Republican Party is quick to pounce on Gov. Deval Patrick's missteps. But we didn't see any comment from the Grand Old Party regarding the governor's decision to strip a midyear spending bill of $104,000 that was to be used to allow the Barnstable County sheriff to hire the party's unsuccessful South Shore congressional candidate, Jeff Perry.
Seeing that the position in which Perry was to be installed had been vacant for two years, Patrick surmised it wasn't needed. Good call.
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Boston Mayor Tom Menino wants to ban sweetened beverages from all municipal buildings, but was all in favor of the Red Sox's application to serve mixed alcoholic drinks throughout Fenway Park. Is he saying a martini's better for you than a Coke?
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This can't be Peabody: "Schools chief sees need for deeper job cuts."
You're right. The headline in the Gloucester Daily Times this week ran over a story on budget deliberations in that city.
The Tanner City's superintendent is proposing to add 10 jobs to the payroll. But then sometimes it seems the very purpose of the Peabody school system is to provide people with employment.
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Interesting story in the Boston Herald this week by former News staffer Chris Cassidy about how former Massport director David Davis, who's still a member of the agency's pension board, routinely participates in meetings via telephone from his home in Florida.
Wonder who thought of it first: Davis or former Essex Regional Retirement Board member Kathy O'Leary?
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State Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, was recently named to the board of directors of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. According to the release, women currently comprise 23.5 percent of the Legislature (36 House members, 11 senators). And here's a particularly amazing stat: "Currently, 173 women have served in the Massachusetts Legislature compared to more than 20,000 men."
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Massachusetts Citizens for Life is urging high-school students to spend a day of their upcoming vacation (Tuesday, April 19) on Beacon Hill visiting their senators and state representatives to lobby for pro-life legislation.
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