Clairvoyance or Common Sense?

"You can’t just hit the button that is green because it feels good."
Representative Lew Evangelidis, June, 2008

Since last Spring, Representative Evangelidis has been calling the state budget "unaffordable and unsustainable." Below is a section from his January 22 newsletter referring to Governor Patrick's budget cuts. Pay particular attention to the words Rep. Evangelidis spoke on the floor of the House last June. The quotation above is from that speech.

Earlier this fall Governor Patrick released over $900 million in retroactive budget cuts to the Commonwealth’s FY09 operating budget. Under the Massachusetts General Laws, the Governor has the authority to reduce spending if the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue reports that revenues will be insufficient to meet expenditures. The Governor has the authority under Chapter 28, section 9C to make reductions to his Departmental agencies, which include the Department of Education, Department of Public Health, RMV, Executive Office of Transportation etc.

Last year I voted against the budget which increased state spending by $1.4 billion for FY09. It was clear at that time that this budget was unaffordable and unsustainable. I stated that this budget would lead us back next session to make painful retroactive cuts due to our overspending. This is exactly what happened. Although the economic crisis has made a bad situation worse, we could have avoided half these cuts if we had passed a responsible budget last year.

When Governor Patrick signed the budget last July his administration publicly stated that they knew this budget was close to $500 million out of balance, but he vetoed only $120 million in spending. The legislature then overrode and spent almost all of those vetoed items. I was one of only a few legislators to support Governor Patrick’s vetoes, even on this minimal amount. Now the legislature has given Governor Patrick the authority to cut local aid to balance our budget. I have always promised my communities that I would prioritize local aid and education funding above all else. For that reason alone I voted against today’s legislation, especially in light of having a state supported health care system that has spun out of control, an unnecessary Governor’s Washington D.C. Office, no pension or transportation reforms, state owned golf courses etc.

Additionally, the Governor did not outline after being requested to do so, what specific cuts he will make with his additional budget cutting authority. In light of all the above, it is completely unacceptable for me to approve any cuts that will affect our communities' local services and education.

Here is my unedited testimony from the House floor regarding our unaffordable budget and my prediction of future 9C cuts in June of 2008:

Rep. Evangelidis of Holden said, “I came to the building five years ago and watched the budget go from $20 billion to $28 billion. All I hear about is extraordinary deficits we face, this year at $1.2 billion. Our reaction to this and the likely recession coming is to decide to increase our budget by $2 billion. That’s what we are doing here today. I feel like we are driving over a cliff right now. When I got elected we dealt with 9C cuts. If we have a structural deficit, we may have to go back and retroactively cut programs we are funding now. I hope I am not up here in one year’s time saying I told you so. We have to act a little more cautiously than we are acting. We see consolidated amendments come down and money added to the $2 billion we added. It’s extraordinary. Extremely important and worthy programs. We added $65 million to three programs. And nine million more than in our Ways and Means budget. There’s no end to our spending folks. I have reviewed the elder affairs consolidated. We all support councils on aging. How much does this amendment add to the bottom line of what we spent last year and to the Ways and Means proposal? You can’t just hit the button that is green because it feels good.”