September 3, 2010

Baker Campaign launches new TV ad; new poll shows Baker closing the gap

Gov Ballot (with leaners):

  • Patrick 44%
  • Baker 42%
  • Cahill 8%

Other notable items in the poll:

  • Baker is getting the support of 53% of independent voters.
  • Governor Patrick earns approval from 46% of the state’s voters, down four points since late July. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove. Those figures include 21% who Strongly Approve and 33% who Strongly Disapprove.
  • In the current survey, 52% say they’ll vote against Patrick when first asked while 50% say the same when leaners are included.
  • Only 6% rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent while 62% say it’s poor. Twenty-three percent (23%) say it’s getting better while 46% say it’s getting worse.

September 1, 2010

Patrick Reverts Back to Broken Campaign Promises

Record of tax support clouds Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill’s records

BOSTON – Governor Patrick today continued his absurd rhetoric on property taxes, just as he did as a candidate in 2006 when Treasurer Cahill endorsed him, and is again making empty claims and empty promises that has been the hallmark of the past four years.

On with hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan today, Governor Patrick failed to take responsibility for the broken campaign promises he made in 2006 to get elected and claimed he is “the only candidate” who wants to cut property taxes. Up until January of this year, Treasurer Cahill joined Governor Patrick in supporting higher taxes, and Governor Patrick has consistently said that raising the local meals and hotel taxes is a good way to make Massachusetts more affordable.

Property taxes have risen statewide by 11 percent during the past four years, due in large part to the three years of local aid cuts and the failure of Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill to stand up to the unions and support reforms that will save taxpayers money.

“It’s laughable that Governor Patrick is again trying to fool voters into thinking he will cut taxes when he’s spent the past four years looking to raise every tax he can,” said Charlie Baker. “With Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill in charge, taxes have gone up eight times by $1 billion and Governor Patrick refuses to rule out raising taxes if he’s re-elected. His rhetoric may not have changed since 2006, but he can’t fool voters twice.”

Baker today is highlighting property tax increases across the state with an event in Milford, where homeowners are paying 12 percent more on their property tax bill, totaling more than $500 for families there.

August 31, 2010

Property Taxes Up by 11% Under Patrick and Cahill

New web video highlights Patrick’s broken promise

MILTON – Property taxes in Massachusetts have risen by an average of 11 percent during the past four years, highlighting one of Deval Patrick’s many broken promises as a candidate in 2006, when Tim Cahill endorsed his bid and the pair campaigned together.

Running for governor in 2006, Deval Patrick said he would cut property taxes if elected. “The tax to cut is the property tax,” Patrick repeated consistently during the campaign, but he failed to deliver on that promise as governor. Instead, under the Patrick-Cahill Administration there have been eight tax increases, spending has increased by $3 billion, and Massachusetts has seen record job losses. Even given that record, Patrick refuses to rule out raising taxes if he is re-elected.

The Baker/Tisei Campaign today released a new web video highlighting this repeated promise to cut the property tax. The video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYWLvJf4aro

“Deval Patrick and Tim Cahill have proven time and time again that they are unwilling to make the tough decisions that will save taxpayers money and they pat themselves on the back for increasing spending and raising taxes,” said Charlie Baker. “Governor Patrick has never been serious about cutting taxes, and his refusal to rule out raising even more taxes means Massachusetts will see fewer jobs with another Patrick term.”

In Milton, property taxes have risen by 17 percent during the past four years and homeowners there are paying roughly $1,000 more in property taxes under this administration.

When asked recently about his broken promise to cut property taxes, Governor Patrick bragged about raising three different taxes to “help” local governments. “We put a number of proposals on the table – some passed some didn’t – that get the pressure off the property tax at the local level, like the tools we’ve given to cities and towns to reduce their costs by…raising revenues independent of local aid, like the meals and hotels (taxes), and cutting out the exemption for the phone companies on their wires poles,” Patrick said on WRKO last week.

“In Governor Patrick’s mind, the only way to help cities and towns struggling with less state aid is to raise taxes,” said Baker. “That’s the backwards mentality of Beacon Hill that’s gotten us to this point and it has to end.”

August 27, 2010

Together We Can

AUGUST 27, 2010: PATRICK AND CAHILL CAMPAIGN TOGETHER, JUST LIKE IN ’06

BOSTON – In radio interviews Friday, Governor Deval Patrick and Treasurer Tim Cahill both defended the policies of the past four years on Beacon Hill. The partnership was reminiscent of 2006, when Cahill endorsed Patrick before the Democratic primary.

Asked this morning on WRKO about Cahill’s new ad touting a “scandal-free” Lottery, Governor Patrick defended the Treasurer, saying he had “no reason to question his management of the Lottery.”

“Good for him…I have no basis for judging his management of the Lottery,” Patrick said.

Patrick refused to criticize Cahill’s handling of the Lottery, despite multiple, front-page news stories and state investigations about Cahill’s actions in office and Cahill’s friend, neighbor and chief fundraiser, Thomas Kelly earning hundreds of thousands in fees by representing contractors for the Lottery. Cahill is also currently being sued, and defending himself at taxpayers’ expense, for allegedly rigging Lottery contracts in exchange for campaign donations.

On the same radio program, Cahill remained silent about Patrick bragging minutes earlier that he raised three different taxes to “help” local governments.  When questioned about his broken promise to cut property taxes, Patrick said:  “We put a number of proposals on the table – some passed some didn’t – that get the pressure off the property tax at the local level, like the tools we’ve given to cities and towns to reduce their costs by…raising revenues independent of local aid, like the meals and hotels (taxes), and cutting out the exemption for the phone companies on their wires poles.”

“Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill have been running state government for the past four years, and in their minds everything is going just fine,” said Charlie Baker. “Governor Patrick looks the other way on Cahill’s scandals, and Treasurer Cahill looks the other way on tax hikes.  That’s the Beacon Hill political game that put our state in fiscal crisis.  It’s time to throw out the Patrick-Cahill Administration and bring change and reform the state government.”

Some of the dozens of stories about Lottery scandals that Governor Patrick chooses to ignore:

Lottery vendor paid $132,000 to Cahill ally
Treasurer steered tens of millions to a ticket maker
The Massachusetts State Lottery’s largest vendor paid in excess of $132,000 in consulting fees to one of state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill’s closest friends and political confidants, at the same time Cahill steered tens of millions of dollars in contracts to the national firm, according to records and officials.

Cahill first decided in August 2004 to renew a $21 million contract with Georgia-based Scientific Games, which had been sharply criticized for the quality of the scratch tickets it produced, even after Cahill’s top aides recommended that he spread the work around more among multiple vendors, say people with direct knowledge of the process. Cahill, in his role as state treasurer, oversees the Massachusetts Lottery Commission.

Cahill has since given Scientific Games three one-year extensions worth over $30 million in additional state payments.

As Scientific Games was successfully vying for its contract renewal and subsequent extensions, the company was paying Thomas F. Kelly $3,000 a month in a consulting arrangement that began in November 2003 and continues today, according to records obtained by the Globe and confirmed by people involved in the payments. Kelly is Cahill’s Quincy neighbor, a chief political fund-raiser, and a longtime friend. – Boston Globe, August 14, 2008

Cahill associate is under scrutiny
Legality of pact with gaming firm is questioned
Thomas F. Kelly, a political confidant and close friend of State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, stood to make as much as $2.4 million in fees from a deal he tried to broker for a gaming company with the state lottery, which is under Cahill’s control, according to a copy of his contract.

The payment would have been made as a contingency fee to Kelly from Bingo Innovative Software LLC of Johnston, R.I., according to the contract. Such a contingency fee would be illegal under state law if regulators determined that Kelly lobbied Cahill and other state officials on Bingo Innovative’s behalf. – Boston Globe, January 12, 2009

Cahill facing ethics inquiry
$21m lottery pact, friend’s tie at issue
State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill is facing a state ethics inquiry for awarding a $21 million state lottery contract to a company that was secretly paying Cahill’s close friend and fund-raiser, Thomas F. Kelly, tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, according to multiple people who have been briefed on the investigation.

Investigators from the state Ethics Commission interviewed Cahill this month about his decision in 2004 to award the contract to Scientific Games to make scratch tickets, despite a recommendation from his own staff that Scientific Games receive less state work, said two of the people who have been briefed. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because Ethics Commission investigations are confidential. – Boston Globe, March 24, 2009

Taxpayers to foot bill for defense of Cahill, officials say
Massachusetts taxpayers will pay up to $300,000 for outside lawyers to defend a federal civil suit against state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill because the state attorney general’s office declined to handle the case, citing potential conflicts with two state investigations, according to officials involved in the case.

The state Lottery Commission, which is led by Cahill, this month authorized hiring the two law firms, Proskauer Rose LLP and Mintz Levin, to fight a $20 million suit brought by a Rhode Island-based gaming firm, Bingo Innovative Software. – Boston Globe, April 14, 2009

Cahill’s legal costs soaring
He and lottery head fight suit on bid dispute
State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and his lottery director have racked up $393,000 in publicly funded legal costs over the last seven months and are on track to spend another $500,000 as they use two elite law firms to defend themselves in a lawsuit accusing them of rigging contracts in exchange for campaign donations.

Though state officials at times rely on outside counsel in litigation, the legal expenses in this case, for nine attorneys working at premium hourly rates, appear to be unusually high and could climb to more than $1 million if the dispute endures without an out-of-court settlement. – Boston Globe, December 18, 2009

Pol Hits Lottery at Vendor Fund-raiser

Three months after handing a Georgia company a $20 million Lottery contract, state Treasurer Tim Cahill raked in more than $16,000 in a swank New York City fund-raiser by the firm’s executives, friends and allies. In one night with Scientific Games honchos at The Water Club on New York’s East River, Cahill almost tripled the cash former state Treasurer Shannon P. O’Brien took from company execs over two years. – The Boston Herald, November 22, 2004

Firms Tied to Treasury Boost Cahill Coffers

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill has raised tens of thousands of dollars this year from companies doing business with the Treasury, including a prominent advertising firm, a host of firms in the liquor industry, and a Georgia-based lottery contractor, a review of campaign finance records by the Globe shows.
Executives at the Hill, Holliday advertising firm and their spouses contributed a total of $20,000, with most of the money arriving the week before Christmas, the records show. Last year the Boston- based firm landed a three-year pact to create television, radio, and print spots touting the state lottery’s Megabucks and Mega Millions games, winning out over two other local firms. Cahill oversees the State Lottery Commission. – The Boston Globe, December 31, 2004

1234567891020