Dear Senator McCain & Governor Palin, by Richard L. PIlla

Now that Congress has passed and President Bush has signed into law the Wall Street “bailout,” though perhaps a necessary evil, this bill has saddled American taxpayers, their children and grandchildren with even greater debt than that which they had previously faced. It is high time that someone offers Main Street America a solution to ease their anxieties about making ends meet in the near term and give them hope for a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Now that we are entering the final stages of this Presidential campaign, I strongly urge the McCain/Palin campaign to consider the following proposal which I humbly believe would turn your campaign around and put it on a track to victory.

During the days after “The Great Depression,” the Roosevelt Administration conceived of the WPA to put Americans to work. Not only did the WPA achieve that goal, but it also led to the construction of many significant public works projects that are still in use today.

I believe that the economic challenges and pending hardships for many can best be resolved with a WPA of the 21st century. This program would not only begin to put much of the American workforce back to work who have been laid off because of major losses in the auto industry and financial services sector, et al (159,000 lost jobs in September alone), but will also will restore for Americans confidence in the future with the promise of good paying jobs as a result of new technologies and emerging industries. This program will keep Americans safe and eliminate dependency on foreign oil. It will also stop, over a period of time, the transfer of American wealth to our obvious and not-so-obvious enemies whose sole purpose is to destroy America, Israel, and their allies.

The engine for this hope? Energy! Energy using every means possible including solar, nuclear, natural gas, clean coal, oil, and wind. How many jobs would be created by deploying all of these sources of energy? How much cleaner would our environment be, and how much safer will our children and grandchildren be? And if we ever have to go to war again, and for the right reasons, America will be that much stronger.

Best of all, it will be American visionaries, designers and workers who will provide the technology, the delivery systems, the farming and harvesting of natural resources, the ingenuity, and the labor to make America truly self-sufficient. This would be an All-American Program. America has not had an energy policy in over forty years, a very sad commentary. However, with this program, in one fell swoop, the McCain/Palin team would have not only created a new and sustainable energy policy, but a domestic policy, a foreign policy, an environmental policy, a national security policy and a jobs policy. This program would be designed for Main Street America, would create a policy to propel America through the 21st century on solid footing and would reinforce its superpower status. This is the “America for Americans” policy and the policy driving the McCain/Palin ticket to victory on November 4.

Take this message to the people and announce it in Michigan. MacArthur returned to Manilla after defeat; McCain/Palin need to return to Michigan and claim the Midwest because that is where the election will be won or lost.

Incent Residents to Find Cost Savings for Town

They say “two heads are better than one.”

Given this, perhaps the town should consider obtaining and offering privately-funded incentives to encourage more citizen involvement in finding cost savings.

Here’s how it would work.

The town could solicit local merchants for significant non-cash prizes. The town could then publicize that it’s seeking public input on cost-saving ideas (noting the availability of the prizes and mentioning the businesses that provided them). Then the town could evaluate any suggestions generated and award the prizes to residents who present meaningful savings ideas that it implements. The prizes would be given to people who are not town officials, employees or appointees.

It’s really a “win-win-win” proposition. The citizen offering the idea wins a great prize. The merchant providing the prize wins free favorable publicity. And most importantly, taxpayers win by saving more of their hard-earned money.

While citizens have always had the ability to make cost-cutting suggestions, offering incentives would bring renewed attention to the issue of saving the town money and will cause some residents to think more seriously about it. After all, many people are motivated by contests and this proposal taps into that drive.

I’m not saying that giving away prizes will “flood” Town Hall with new savings ideas. Nor am I suggesting that this would be a substitute for the town officials’ ongoing hard work on the budget. But in this tough economy with the prospect of cuts in essential town services, even one good idea resulting from this initiative will have made it well-worth trying.

Next Meeting: 9/15/08, 7:30 PM Town Hall

Come join us this Monday, September 15 at 7:30 in the lower level of Town Hall. We will plan our activities for 2008 - 2009 and see how we can all help the McCain/Palin ticket in November.

See you there.

An Alternative to Overrides. by Robert G. O'Brien

Cutbacks in local aid and increases in unfunded state mandates have exacerbated Milton’s budgetary problems. In many municipalities, traditional “budget busters” include town employee salaries, automatic pay-raises (annual and “step”), spiraling health insurance costs, lucrative pension plans, generous overtime and police details.

As a fairly new resident, I’ve never looked closely at the town budget—so I cannot say to what degree these are problems. But I do think Town Meeting should examine these areas.

We ought to compare Milton town employee staffing levels, compensation, benefits, and criteria for retirement—to other comparable communities. More importantly, we should contrast our town employees with average private-sector employees. Where adjustments need to made, the town can try to negotiate them (at least incrementally) at contract renewal time with employee unions.

As alternatives to losing members due to layoffs, civic-minded employee unions could agree to open up contract negotiations now. Perhaps they could voluntarily forgo an automatic pay-raise, agree to pay a greater percentage of their health insurance premium or higher co-pays.

The town should also explore potential savings by having its employees tie into the state health insurance program (and possibly the state pension plan).

This is not to pick on our town employees. They do an excellent job! It’s just that we need look for reasonable savings wherever they can be found.

Already living in the one of the most heavily taxed states in America, many Milton residents can ill-afford yet another override--particularly during our current tough economy.

Should The State Bet On Casinos, Part 3, by Chris Trakas

In part 1 of my argument, I made the case for allowing gaming in the state at all. Part 2 compared the MA plan to those of neighboring states. In this final part 3, I will describe the changes that I believe the MA plan should incorporate.

There should be at least one, possibly two, Massachusetts tribal casinos to allow another long time Massachusetts group(s) to help their workers and the state. One of the casinos should be in Western Massachusetts. These casinos would be able to offer some gaming over and above what the track based racinos could offer, such as blackjack, dice, and roulette. The above two approaches have worked well in New York and other states and should be the way to go here.

The current casino plan with its hundred million dollar plus licenses as proposed now, will very possibly end up as being an expansion of the two Connecticut casinos and possibly one Las Vegas outfit. Mohegan Sun seems likely to get the Western Massachusetts license. It may also get the Southeastern license, possibly in conjunction with the Wampanoag tribe, but more than likely on its own. The third license may end up being a bidding war between Foxwoods and Sheldon Adelson's group from Las Vegas. Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods already have fabulously successful casinos and I wish them the best, but it is not necessary for them to take over the Massachusetts market as well to the exclusion of the Massachusetts tribal groups and tracks. Sheldon Adelson is one of the wealthiest people in the world and I certainly wish him continued success and happiness but we need to take care of people based in Massachusetts.

The plan proposed now certainly has its merits, but the plan for three full scale casinos probably owned by out of state interests is too far flung. If any tribal group benefits from this, it should be a Massachusetts tribal group. Also, the tracks should be allowed to participate as a way to both help their beleaguered employees who are long time Massachusetts residents, and to help the state at the same time. It should be altered to the racino and tribal casino approach mentioned above which is working in New York and other states. This is the fairest approach.

This is also an issue where Massachusetts Republicans can actually make a difference. We live in an essentially one party state, but this is an issue that has divided the Democrats, and the Republican votes can make the difference. The middle and working class Democrats who used to be called Reagan Democrats and who are based in the smaller cities such as Lynn, Brockton, Holyoke, Revere, and parts of Boston such as South and East Boston are generally in favor of this. Republicans can work with this constituency and possibly create some good will to work together in the future. The more affluent liberal wing of the Democrat party based in wealthier urban areas and Boston suburbs seems generally opposed to the expansion of gambling. They cite social costs, which I feel is not a valid argument as outlined above, and also that the character of the state will change. Possibly they feel this is some sort of pedestrian activity, and that we would be better off pursuing higher callings. This is also an opportunity to work with the Governor, pass something together, and try to set the stage for further cooperation down the line.

The state needs expanded gaming, the racetrack workers and Massachusetts based tribal groups need this, and Republicans need an opportunity to make a difference. Let's start with the plan proposed, change it to all of our benefit, and then enjoy the fruits of this hard work.

Should the State Bet on Casinos, Part 2, by Chris Trakas

In my previous, post, I established the case for permitting casinos in the Commonwealth. At this point, the question should be how to expand gaming here in a way that will benefit the state and its workers and taxpayers and while recognizing the unique issues and potential problems. The proposal put forth by the Governor's Gambling Study Group is a step in the right direction in the sense that it starts us down the path toward expanded gambling. It recognizes the reality of the potential for significant revenue and what is going on in neighboring states. It also recognizes the potential problems and attempts to deal with them. I applaud the Study Group for that, but I also recommend altering the approach.

The plan should be altered to benefit Massachusetts workers and organizations. A plan similar to New York's using the racino (racing+casino) approach and at least one Massachusetts based tribal casino would be a better plan and would be more fair to long time Massachusetts workers and residents. The Massachusetts tracks have provided jobs, revenue, and enjoyment to residents for years. They also have been severely hurt by the Connecticut and Rhode Island casinos. They have been the force pushing expanded gaming for the last fifteen years so that they could offer another product along with their core product, which would also greatly benefit the state at the same time. They have kept this issue in the forefront and have advanced many of the arguments that have convinced a majority of the residents that we should take this next step.

As an example of the potential benefits to the state, they have offered to give it a very large percentage of the gaming revenues, much more than the current proposal calls for. The tracks are proposing to give 60% of the gaming profits, before expenses, to the state. They essentially will be paying a 60% tax rate on net income before expenses, by far the highest tax rate in the state. Then they will pay to run the operations out of the remaining 40% with at least a quarter of that going to help support the racing and breeding industries that have been so severely hurt by the Connecticut and Rhode Island casinos. The tracks want an opportunity to help their workers and the state at the same time. Their hope is to get more people visiting their facilities with an expanded product offering and hopefully to see their racing handles increase. The vast majority of the gaming profits will go to the state. The racino approach will quickly infuse revenue to the state because the facilities are already here. Further, it helps preserve industries that employ many thousands of people and while providing entertainment to thousands more. A study of the racinos in New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, West Virginia, and Delaware would show that it is a successful and beneficial way to go.

Should the State Bet on Casinos? Part 1 - By Chris Trakas

This opinion piece is part 1 in a series.

I am a member of the Milton Republican Town Committee. The issues of expanded gaming and casinos have become major news items in the past couple of months. I am a proponent of some type of expansion of gambling for various reasons. First and foremost, it is already here but the state gets no benefit from it. It is not like "the old days" when it was confined to Las Vegas and then to Atlantic City. Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and Twin Rivers are major casinos whose number one customer base is people from Massachusetts. Twin Rivers is located less than ten miles from the Massachusetts border and the Connecticut casinos are less than a 90 minute drive from a majority of the population of the state. Massachusetts residents are providing hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island through those casinos, money that should be staying here. We essentially have casinos in Massachusetts already, they just happen to be a short distance over the border and we get no monetary benefit from them.

There is much talk about the "social costs" of casinos. If there are social costs, they are already being felt. The above mentioned casinos are easy to reach by car. There are hundreds of extremely low priced bus trips carrying customers to them. It is important to help people who have problems with gambling, but that does not mean that everyone else should be excluded from participating and enjoying themselves. Any discussion of social costs should also include the social costs of not having expanded gambling in Massachusetts and the lost jobs in this state. Consider the money that has left the state and is not spent here on local projects and on improving the economy. Isn't it a social cost to constantly have Proposition 2.5 overrides that might be unnecessary if we were able to recoup some of the gambling revenue? Consider what has happened to the incomes of the hard working people at the state's racetracks. Those facilities have been greatly hurt by the Connecticut casinos. These people are long time, hard working Massachusetts residents. Is that not a social cost? I believe that the greater social cost is in not tapping in to the expanded gambling market.

There is also the idea of people enjoying themselves. People go to the casinos because they like it, it gives them something enjoyable to do, and there are social and nightlife opportunities that are not available here.

This state has been surrounded by states that have taken advantage of the opportunities to expand their gaming operations. These states certainly aren't being run by naive people who are chasing some sort of pie in the sky undertaking. Connecticut and Rhode Island are major gambling states. New York has tribal casinos and has also added gaming to the state's racetracks to create casinos. New Hampshire has already added poker to its racetracks and is seriously considering a major casino at the Rockingham track, which is about a mile over the Massachusetts border. Maine has expanded into casinos. A little further away, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware have taken the casino route as well. All of these states have reaped billions of dollars of revenues over the years and are generally happy with the results. The facilities are heavily regulated, safe for their employees and customers and profitable for the states.

Up Next, Part 2: The Plan for Massachusetts.

All Politics is Local - 03/10/08

Yes, Tip O'Neill said it, but it applies equally well to Republican Party politics in Milton. Last night, the Milton Republican Town Committee met at Town Hall to welcome its newly elected members, set an agenda for the coming year and hear from two local candidates.

New Members - As you may know, the members of the committee are elected by the citizen/party members of Milton and this past election placed 25 members on the committee. New and returning members gathered together last night to meet one another and remark on the vast breadth of experience. Some members were meeting for the first time and others had been active for over 40 years. Talk about your greatest generation.

Agenda - But its more than just a meet and greet...these members want to help reestablish the GOP here in town and across the Commonwealth, so the first order of business is setting goals. Ours are simple:
1) Give citizens a clear choice between liberal democratic politicians and their policies and the traditional conservative principles that have helped our country grow and prosper for over 200 years.
2) Use that clear choice to convince conservative leaning voters who have chosen to register as independents to renew their registration in the Republican Party.
3) Harness the strength of an active and committed voter base to nominate and elect Republicans to local office so they can implement the policies in which we believe.

Candidates - Funny you should mention it but two happened to show up last night. Our own Chris Huban presented himself as a candidate for a fourth term as member of our School Committee and Tom Gorman presented a compelling case for his election as Norfolk County Commissioner. Chris's case is strong. During his tenure, he helped replace the entire school system's physical plant for the same cost that surrounding towns are spending on a single High School. He helped reverse a downward trend in student achievement by meeting Advanced Yearly Progress (AYP) metrics. And he helped promote two long time Milton teachers and residents into the leadership positions of Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent.

And Tom Gorman is an unusual candidate in that he wants you to vote for him now so that you never have to vote for him again. His proposal is to save the 28 towns in Norfolk County $ millions annually by transferring responsibility for county services to the state agencies that already perform overlapping services and then abolish the county government entirely. Nine other MA counties have already done the same with no disruption in services. Now that's a bi-partisan proposal anyone can support! Check out Tom's newly designed web site (available April 1) by clicking on the link to the right of this post.

See you on April 28 for our next meeting.

French vs. English

A recent column stated that there were 'perceived inequalities' caused by the French Immersion program. Let's look at some of the real inequalities:

1. Classroom size and the number of students per class=French less students; English more students

2. Special Education students=none in French

3. Full 5 days of recess=French 5 days; English 4 days

4. Gala event celebrating 20 years of languages= French big party; English no mention

The last time French was useful to me is when I was employed at WT Grants in Mattapan Square many many years ago. The Haitian who would shop there could converse with those of us who had High School French. We made ourselves understood. French at that time was considered the language of Diplomacy; German for Science and Latin for Medicine. China was still a mystery and the Russians were busy waging a Cold War.

I now work in a very large Boston hospital. My department, the Cardiac Cath Lab, sees anywhere from 20 to 40 patients a day. Not everyone speaks English, but that does not hinder us-between the staff and hospital interpreters we are covered for any language and/or dialect. The majority are Spanish and Portuguese speaking. Followed by Arabic, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Italian and some Russian. The need for us to ever need a French interpreter is perhaps, at most, twice a year. If a patient does speak French, it is usually their second or third language.

So why is Milton continuing a program that does not prepare students for a real world? A world that utilizes Spanish and Portuguese speakers especially in the Boston area. A Haitian immigrant who sends her child to Tucker wants her child to learn English. This is the language of their new country-skills in English will benefit them both. Why does he lose a recess for wanting to learn?

Is it fair that one twin has 5 full days of recess in the French, but the other twin , who is on the English Track, has only 4 days? How are their parents supposed to explain ?English teachers are layed off, MCAS score go down and then rehired with borrowed money. This is not the way to run a school. English language skills should be the priority. Any extra languages should be offered as an addendum not a way of life.

Budget priorities have to be set. Overides are not the answer and I am tired of my taxes being raised and raised again. Throwing more money at the problem-the budget-does not make it go away.

School Committee Member Mary Kelly asked that the disparity of the French and English track programs be added to the budget list but was voted down. Mr Chairman Beirne Lovely said"I think this is the tip of a different iceberg...I certainly don't think it raises to the level of a budget priority item." The Titanic sank because of an iceberg. The Milton School system has become the Titanic . It's time to jettison some of these pet programs and take off the rose colored glasses. French Immersion was a nice little experiment that has overstayed its welcome. Now is the time to utilize the new schools for which they were built-to educate not divide the children of Milton.

Patricia Gannon

70 Meagher Ave

Milton

617-696-0018