A reminder from the governor
IT'S UNFAIR to expect any first-year governor to unveil sweeping new initiatives in his first budget, which must be filed less than two months after he takes the oath of office. But Governor Deval Patrick made the best of his predicament last night in a speech previewing the budget to be released today. His toughest audience won't be the people at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Melrose or the viewers at home, but the 200 members of the House and Senate, habituated by 16 years of Republican administrations to revising gubernatorial budgets at will.
Patrick mixed the poetry of the campaign with the grittier details of governance. "We are building a foundation for lasting change and meaningful progress," he said. And yet the programs he announced were small, compared with the $26.7 billion budget. He singled out the high cost of housing as a disincentive for job growth, but the housing programs he mentioned would help those at the lowest income levels, who need assistance but are not the young middle-class homebuyers who are leaving the state in distressing numbers.
His speech last night was intended to speak gently over the heads of the Legislature to remind voters why they gave him a landslide victory in November. He mentioned several small but thoughtful proposals to expand full-day kindergarten and afterschool programs, but these are merely a prelude to a major education restructuring plan to be offered later. Mustering public support for his budget now should encourage the Legislature to give his more expansive proposals a more respectful hearing when they are unveiled.
The House showed itself in a conciliatory mood earlier in the day when, by a 153-0 vote, it approved Patrick's plans to rearrange energy, environmental, and economic development agencies. Speaker Salvatore DiMasi had his own plans for an energy reorganization, but, in deference to the governor, the speaker accepted his. Patrick can only hope the Legislature shows similar forbearance for his plan to curtail such budget devices as individual line items and outside sections, which legislators cherish, but which often yield bloated programs and ill-considered policies.
Governor Romney, a Republican, made a similar speech early in his term in 2003, but the state was facing a graver fiscal crisis then and Romney thought he had a mandate for major changes in the structures of government. The Legislature made the necessary budget cuts and otherwise brushed him off.
Patrick said he refuses to accept the contention that Massachusetts is "the capital of the status quo." It's not, as shown by the innovative health care law passed last year, which he fully supports. But the question is really: Who drives the change? Patrick made a strong case last night that he ought to be given a turn at the wheel. 