Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Another Democrat swing and a miss

Remember when the state of Massachusetts raised the sales tax to a whopping 6.25% earlier this year? Tom Menino told us this would raise $47 million dollars for Boston, and a chorus of other tax-and-spend solons sang in our ears about all the needy people the tax-hike windfall would help. And then there was the alcohol sales tax hike, which Boston Democrat Senator Steven Tolman told us would raise $15 million to battle heroin addiction.

Instead, we see today that Westport Representative Michael Rodriguez (D) is not the only person that chose to drive to New Hampshire for their liquor and other taxable goods, and gosh darn it, another Democrat promise is up in smoke. Instead of reaping these huge windfalls, we see today the only addicts being aided by these high taxes are spending-addicted politicians, and Massachusetts will actually have a $100-$200 million revenue loss due to these idiotic policies.

Fast forward to August of 2009, when Mayor McGlynn sent his solicitor before the City Council, a state of Massachusetts revenue forecast in his hand. Raise Medford’s meals taxes, the City Council was told, the State of Massachusetts says we’ll make $175,000. I am sure I was not the only Medford resident whose letter warning of the fool’s gold Beacon Hill was promising went unanswered. And the City Council actually delayed the rubberstamp for 1 week, forcing His Eminence to actually appear before the Council in an unadvertised Tuesday morning meeting; I guess he thought he would just send an aide to impose a new tax on working class citizens, it’s no big deal. When he did appear on that Tuesday, only the half of the Council supporting the measure appeared, and we joined only 30 cities or towns state wide to be snookered into imposing a new tax during a recession.

My questions for Mayor McGlynn now are these; Mayor McGlynn, how much faith do you have in those numbers cooked up by the pro-tax lobby on Beacon Hill today? How much confidence should Medford’s small business owners and taxpayers have in you for imposing them on our community? And finally, most importantly, how many patrons of Medford's restaurants are now eating in Malden or Burlington, and then shopping there afterwards? Not everyone in this city lives on a fixed, tax-funded salary you know.

Nick McNulty
Medford GOP

Monday, September 28, 2009

Strangers to Dissent, Liberals Try to Stifle It

Strangers to Dissent, Liberals Try to Stifle It

By Michael Barone

It is an interesting phenomenon that the response of the left half of our political spectrum to criticism and argument is often to try to shut it down. Thus President Obama in his Sept. 9 speech to a joint session of Congress told us to stop "bickering," as if principled objections to major changes in public policy were just childish obstinacy, and chastised his critics for telling "lies," employing "scare tactics" and playing "games." Unlike his predecessor, he sought to use the prestige of his office to shut criticism down.

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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Scott Brown, Charlie Baker address residents in Foxboro


Republican governor candidate Charlie Baker during the Foxboro Town Committee meeting Thursday at the Lafayette House. (Staff photo by Mike George)

FOXBORO - State Sen. Scott Brown said Thursday he will be a different breed of U.S. Senator if elected to replace the late Edward Kennedy because he will not be a "rubber stamp" like the rest of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.

Brown, R-Wrentham, said the Democrats currently representing Massachusetts in Washington are too similar and lack independence.

"They look alike. They vote alike. They take their orders from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi," he told a gathering of Republicans at Lafayette House in Foxboro.





Full story

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Charlie Baker campaign update

Medford politicians debate interim Senate appointment

By Matthew Reid/mreid@cnc.com
Wed Sep 23, 2009, 09:00 AM EDT

In 2004, Democrats changed the law to block then-Republican Gov. Mitt Romney from naming a temporary replacement if Sen. John Kerry had won his bid to run for president.

“It’s hypocritical and unconstitutional for such an ex post facto law to be passed,” said Nick McNulty, a representative of the Medford GOP.

McNulty believes the attempt by politicians in Massachusetts to change the law is the result of pressure from the federal government, citing a letter Kennedy wrote just before his death that urged Patrick to change the law.

“State laws should not be subject to the whims of either federal party,” McNulty said. “It’s obvious that Kennedy’s letter is from federal Democrats who want the law changed for their own gain.”

The absence of a second democratic voice in the Senate hurts President Barack Obama’s attempt to pass key health care reform, something Kennedy was passionate about during his lifetime, McNulty said.

State Reps. Paul Donato and Carl Sciortino both voted in favor of the bill last week.

Full story

Christy Mihos press release

PRESS RELEASE - September 24, 2009 - 11:00 am

New, interim U.S. Senator for the Commonwealth.

"Adding insult to injury, Governor Patrick has ended this sordid political drama on Beacon Hill through granting high office by declaring an emergency. The emergency in the Commonwealth right now is due to a sinking economy and a state house where ethical standards have plummeted during Deval Patrick's leadership. Someone should tell the governor where the real fire is," said Mihos.

"Is this governor so completely tone deaf that he believes voters support the tactics he's used these past few days to change the law regarding the appointment of a new, U.S. senator?"

According to media reports, Governor Patrick has said he will declare an emergency so that he can immediately appoint a new senator today. Mihos said he concurs with the letter sent by the state G.O.P. to State Secretary Bill Galvin, urging the secretary to be cognizant of the fact that state law does not facilitate Patrick declaring an emergency for this purpose.

"If the media were to take a careful look at state law and past legal decisions, they will see that declaring an emergency for purposes of this political appointment is simply not legal," said Mihos.

Deval Patrick's likely Senate pick raises "serious concerns"

From the Boston Herald;

The Kennedy-backed pick for interim senator - a Beltway insider who could enjoy a lifetime pass to the Senate floor - has deep ties to special interests, sitting on a board that oversees a health-insurance provider and having lobbied for the pharmaceutical industry, the Herald has learned.

“Obviously, this is a conflict of interest and raises serious concerns,” Craig Holman of the non-partisan watchdog Public Citizen, said of the potential appointment of Paul G. Kirk Jr. to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat. “It is distressing. There were many qualified people.”

Former Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is also considered a leading candidate, though critics say he carries political baggage that could reflect poorly on Gov. Deval Patrick in his own 2010 race. Last night, Patrick refused to tip his hand on his choice for the job. But Patrick confirmed he is submitting a letter to Secretary of State William Galvin declaring an emergency so he can act now instead of waiting 90 days for the law to take effect. He declined to comment on Republican protests that there is no emergency


Full story

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Christy Speaks Out on Governor Patrick's Senate Appointment

As I write to you this afternoon, Deval Patrick is preparing to name lobbyist Paul Kirk as the Interim U.S. Senator for the Commonwealth...and Massachusetts is once again seeing back-room politics on Beacon Hill coming before the needs of working families. I'm in this race to change that.

Governor Patrick is engaged in the kind of back-room political payback and dealmaking that sickens people. His rumored appointee, Paul Kirk, is a registered lobbyist, a campaign financier, and a Democratic insider who defines everything that is wrong with government today. Lobbyist Paul Kirk, if appointed, will blend in perfectly with the special interests in Washington who are spending us into a debt that both Massachusetts and the United States may never escape from. Even if he only joins the Senate for five months, my fear is that Kirk will put his political and lobbying interests before those of Massachusetts families.

Newspaper reports made it clear: under pressure from Washington, Patrick was told to ram through a Senator who would vote the party-line in Washington. It wasn't about helping working families here at home, but about giving his friend Barack Obama another party-line, rubber-stamp vote in the Senate. I think it says a lot about my opponent's judgment: after hypocritically insisting in 2006 that Massachusetts should go without a Senator until the Democrats could manipulate the process, today he rams through a millionaire corporate lobbyist as political payback.

After months of visiting with real people in cities and towns across of the Commonwealth, I'm inspired and energized to lead a campaign to stop just this kind of insider behavior. We need to do more than just win this election: we need to fundamentally change the corrupt political culture on Beacon Hill. We'll focus on cutting taxes for average people, trimming an out-of-control bureaucracy and getting Massachusetts moving forward again. The special interests won't like it: but you and your family will have a Governor who puts people before politics.

Your friend,
Christy Mihos

Ed Markey refuses to speak to Medford City Council on healthcare reform

Ed "Cap and Tax" Markey looks like he is running the John Kerry playbook, avoid the voters, run on name recognition and the coattails of others...

From this week's Medford City Council minutes, printed in the Medford Transcript;

09-718-Offered by Councillor Penta

Be it resolved that since the Medford City Council on two separate occasions have had resolutions sent to Congressman Markey asking for a public open discussion forum at Medford City Hall regarding national health care, being the President's number one at present priority, and since in fact the Congressman has failed to respond especially to a community that has treated Mr. Markey well politically,

be it further stated that it is not becoming to Mr. Markey's position of Congressman wherein he has self proclaimed himself as the Dean of the Massachusetts and New England Delegation and now being the eighth most Senior Democrat in Washington to ignore a responsibility of listening to the people and a legislative request for their understanding and reasoning no matter what position they may have.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

We have signature sheets for Senator Scott Brown to get on the ballot for the special election, please contact the Medford GOP to sign up.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Tufts Daily - From the outside looking in, Tufts alum Brown sees a path to Kennedy’s Senate seat

Tufts Daily - From the outside looking in, Tufts alum Brown sees a path to Kennedy’s Senate seat

As a Republican candidate in a heavily Democratic state, U.S. Senate hopeful Scott Brown (LA ’81) is casting himself as an independent thinker and a political outsider.

In a speech on Saturday announcing his candidacy, State Sen. Brown emphasized his distance from what he called “the Beacon Hill insider club” and promised that his commitment to his constituents would trump any ties to his political party or outside interests if he won the upcoming election.

“As your U.S. Senator, I still won’t take my orders from the special interests or from Washington politicians who think they know better than us what’s good for Massachusetts,” Brown said. “I do not want to go to Washington to serve the interests of government. I want to serve the interests of the people of Massachusetts.”


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Have they no shame?

Have they no shame?

The legislative discussion over an interim Senate appointment has gone from bad to appalling, turning into an exercise in truly gross partisanship.

It is no longer about merely assuring two votes for Massachusetts or making a Democratic president and Senate majority leader Harry Reid happy to have one more Democratic body in the Senate.

No, legislative drafters want to make sure even if the governorship should change parties and fall into the hands of - oh, horrors! - a Republican, that the seat would continue to be a Democratic one virtually in perpetuity

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Fred Cusick, at 90; the velvety voice of the Bruins for decades - The Boston Globe

Fred Cusick, at 90; the velvety voice of the Bruins for decades - The Boston Globe

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Medford's Coakley gets in lock step with Beacon Hill Machine

...who in turn are getting their marching orders from the Beltway Machine. At the behest of Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, the AP reports that our own Attorney General is going to support a law that she should be filing suit against on behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth. There can be no doubt now that Martha Coakley is just another self-serving Democrat with no more respect for our state and federal constitutions than any of the rest of the unrepresentative politicians-for-life on Beacon Hill.

But there's more - it looks like Massachusetts Democrats have decided to drop the whole ruse that this garbage is anything but a partisan power play;

A proposal that could be voted on Thursday would require that the appointee be from the same political party as the person whose departure created the vacancy, a Democrat like Kennedy in the current case. Yet it would not require that the appointee be blocked from running in the special election.

Political party requirements written into a bill? I think that is pretty unprecedented, our founding fathers never envisioned the formation of permanent, entrenched political parties, this bill flies directly in the face of anything they believed in.

Democrats ruling Massachusetts and America unopposed are showing us all their true, unconstitutional colors, this is the true "teachable moment" of the Obama years, and Martha Coakley is a part of the problem, not the solution. Time to end the Democrat Oligarchy that is quickly ruining our Republic once and for all.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Brown is GOP’s Best Shot for Mass. Senate Seat

Brown is GOP’s Best Shot for Mass. Senate Seat

by George E. Bianchi, Jr.


If Mitt Romney is a Ken Doll, Scott Brown is a G.I. Joe. An attorney specializing in family law, Brown has represented the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 2004 and is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Massachusetts National Guard.

In addition to his stellar public service credentials, Brown has a family that is straight out of the pages of Good Housekeeping. Brown’s wife, Gail Huff, is a reporter on Boston’s ABC 5 WCVB, and one of his daughters, Alya, was a contestant on American Idol and a member of the Boston College women’s basketball team. It’s no wonder that Brown has such a strong bi-partisan base of support in the part of the state he hails from, southeastern Massachusetts.


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Andy Card folds on senate

Andy Card folds on senate

Republican Andrew Card, the former chief of staff to President George W. Bush, burned up the phone lines yesterday, gauging support for a possible run for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat, but last night decided to bow out.

“Ultimately, the decision is what I believe to be in the best interest of my family. Now is not the right time for me to enter a political race,” the former Holbook state representative, U.S. transportation secretary and White House chief of staff said in a statement.


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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Medford one of 30 communities to adopt meals tax - Medford, MA - Medford Transcript

Medford one of 30 communities to adopt meals tax - Medford, MA - Medford Transcript

Medford residents looking to shave a few pennies off their restaurant bill won’t have to travel very far to get their wish.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, only 30 communities, or just over 8.5 percent of the 351 cities and towns across the state, voted to adopt the .75 percent optional meals tax increase by the Aug. 31 deadline.

Every city and town in Massachusetts was given the option of adopting the tax, which is set to go into effect in Medford on Oct. 1.

While the majority of communities that passed the tax were in the central or western parts of the state, some were in the greater Boston area, including the city of Boston.

In the Medford area, communities which adopted the tax included Melrose, Cambridge, Everett and Somerville. The nearby communities of Winchester, Stoneham, Malden and Arlington did not adopt the tax.

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Analogic founder gives Tufts $40M

Analogic founder gives Tufts $40M

The founder of Analogic Corp. in Peabody is donating $40 million to Tufts University’s School of Engineering to advance its engineer leadership programs.

The donation by Bernard Gordon, known as the father of analog-to-digital conversion and for helping develop other key technologies, will allow Tufts to hire more professors charged with teaching engineers leadership skills for use in their industries and elsewhere.


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Reminder, Medford GOP meeting tonight, 7PM

South Medford Fire Station

Monday, September 7, 2009

Next meeting of the Medford GOP, September 9, 2009, 7PM

The next regular business meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be at the South Medford Fire Station in the Dello Russo Room, 1 Medford Street, on Wednesday September 9th at 7:00PM. Expected to be with us is Sam Meas, a most interesting and compelling candidate for the US Congress from the 5th Cong District.

Scott Brown ‘testing the waters’ for U.S. Senate run



Renegade state Sen. Scott P. Brown, a Republican from Wrentham, told the Herald this morning he is “testing the waters” for a run at the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Although he won’t formally declare his candidacy yet, Brown said he plans to spend the next week raising a small amount of money, as federal election laws permit for those who are exploring a run for U.S. Senate.

“It’s a monumental task,” Brown said of the potential sprint to the finish. “It’s obviously a David versus Goliath situation if someone like me decides to run.”

Full story

Tax talk gets tricky

Tax talk gets tricky

Lawmakers and the Patrick administration could have adopted a sunset clause, even base it on certain economic indicators, that would have at least signaled to taxpayers that they weren’t interested in a permanent solution to a temporary fiscal crisis. But they instead went for a straight-up tax hike, with nary a thought given to ever reversing it.

And in Massachusetts - no matter what Murray may say - rolling back taxes is as easy as unringing a bell. Taxpayers ought to pay close attention to what this administration does instead of what it says.


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Noise causing turbulence in Medford

Noise causing turbulence in Medford

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Green Line extension gets the Big Dig treatment

Tufts Daily - Green Line extension costs to top $1 billion

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Tufts Daily - Green Line extension costs to top $1 billion

The plan to bring the T’s Green Line to Tufts is feeling some growing pains.

Completion of the Green Line extension project is facing delays of up to six years from its 2014 deadline, and its price tag continues to grow.


Officials this summer raised the project’s estimated price tag to over $1 billion. The cost of the project’s first six stops, which will culminate near Tufts at College Avenue, rose from $600 billion to $934 billion this summer. A seventh stop was added to the plan in February, and summer estimates put its price tag at $130 million

City Council approves raising of Medford meals tax - Medford, MA - Medford Transcript

Looks like the fix was in, Mayor McGlynn rammed through his business killing tax hike, promising $175,ooo in new business based upon a liberal, state-funded study, when in truth, he will cost Medford restaraunteers at least that much in lost business. The unannounced meeting in the early morning hours was minus 3 City Counciors, with President Breanna Lungo-Koehn, and CouncilorsPaul Camuso, Fred Dello Russo and Stephanie Muccini Burke voting unanimously to hike our taxes during a recession. Any less transparent and any more unrepresenative of the people, I'd think Barrack Obama had put this deal together.

Hey, Mayor McGlynn, make sure you take your Deval Patrick bumper stickers when you drive over the border to other towns to avoid your new tax. Wouldn't want to see you ducking the Channel 7 cameras all day like Representative Rodriguez.

City Council approves raising of Medford meals tax - Medford, MA - Medford Transcript


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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Pol nabbed on New Hampshire booze run

Pol nabbed on New Hampshire booze run

How Massachusetts is this? A Democrat that voted for the alcohol and sales tax hikes caught in his tax funded state vehicle buying booze in New Hampshire.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

An open letter to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley

Ms. Coakley, what does one need to do to lodge a complaint against the legislature and/or the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for pursuing a course of action that is illegal, unconstitutional, and unconscionable? I am watching as the movement for Governor Patrick to name a replacement by edict grows on Beacon Hill amongst the alleged Representatives of the citizens of Massachusetts. I was expecting someone from your office long ago to step forward and inform the assembled mob of angry lawmakers that their desire to protect a national filibuster-proof majority in Washington and to forward President Obama’s agenda is not the business of the Commonwealth.

Articles IV and V of the Massachusetts Constitution, and the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution state clearly that a)we are a sovereign state and b)that it is the job of our state legislators to protect our commonwealth, and our interests, not one political party or another’s;
Article IV. The people of this commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, or may not hereafter, be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in Congress assembled.

Article V. All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them.

The 10th Amendment;The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.


This being the case, why are a bunch of Senators and Congressmen from outside of our state – hiding behind the thin veil of Ted Kennedy’s name – pressuring our lawmakers to violate our constitution, to represent the needs in Washington above the needs of Massachusetts? Harry Reid is concerned about our Senatorial appointment? I just spent 3 months in Reno on active duty with the Massachusetts National Guard, and he is under fire back home because he has become such a stooge of the Democrat Party that he is scarcely even still considered a Nevadan. And he wants to tell the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts how to select our Senator? Why also are our lawmakers and Governor Patrick so eager to comply with those wishes? No, forget Patrick, he is a Chicago carpetbagger, his presence here is a monument to Massachusetts electoral naïveté and a testament to Barrack Obama’s charmed political existence. Who else would be so lucky to have a personal pawn of his own in a pivotal position to name the last vote he needs to rig his healthcare bill vote? Forget the Governor, he was in the bag long ago, and will soon be off to Washington with his book deals and details, no longer our problem.

But what of the Legislature? I risk and invite the prospect of State IRS audit like Joe the Plumber in Ohio, having my National Guard packets smeared by digital brownshirts, and the possibility of limitless other bureaucratic wrath that this monolithic state can and does daily visit upon it’s citizens being called down upon me by asking this question, by sending a copy of this to every legislator that touches every part of my life. I accept that risk, these are questions that need asking, and I’ll be the target if need be by asking them. What about the Legislature? Are they so far gone now, sucked into the blind partisan zeal that defined Ted Kennedy above all else, that they can be beckoned to from the deathbed, appealed to as fellow partisans to protect Party over People? Do they not even feel the need to pretend to care about the citizens of the Commonwealth anymore? Does the following ring a bell to any members on the Hill any longer?

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Does the Massachusetts Legislature so quickly scorn the will of the people? If so, then Massachusetts will stand as a cautionary tale of the hegemony of the Democratic Party in America, a clear sign that absolute power does corrupt absolutely. And, most of the Legislature will be out in the cold, cruel private sector next election, because even the naïve, union beholden, reliable Democrat voters of Massachusetts can see through this one. The Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is prepared to violate the will of the people, the exo post facto clause(Section 10, Clause 1, Article 1) of the U.S. Constitution prohibiting retroactive changes to “the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law”? And they are prepared to violate the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Articles IV and V of the Massachusetts Constitution for the whimsy of a failing President? And the Attorney General is prepared to sit by idly and watch them?

Well, this is still America, and we the people will have our day in court, and our day at the polls. So again, my question to you Ms. Coakley, is to whom should I address these concerns if you will not address them? I was under the impression that “The Attorney General is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As such, she represents the Commonwealth in many matters in which the Commonwealth is a party.” I got that impression from your web site. And frankly, I would think that a person in such stated position would require no urgings from a private citizen to step in and inform the wayward lawmakers(lawbreakers) if the illegality of their stated intended actions. But this not being the case, please assist me in the procedural requirements to move this complaint forward.

And please, do not answer that the path to recourse lies through my Representative – Ed Markey only represents Democrats, and duly does not respond to any of my correspondence. Also, please inform me (or direct your staffers to do so) where I need to go next if your office decides the best course of action is to broom this complaint and stiff arm me; I was a Squad Leader overseas, and as such I was required to sometimes give people answers they did not care for. Possessing integrity, I always informed my subordinates during these times of their rights and avenues up the chain of command to pursue just treatment and satisfactory redress of complaints as needed. If the Army can afford such luxuries, I would like to think the Massachusetts system of government still can.

And yes, I am a private citizen on my own time, on my own dime, and I just took 2 hours out of my busy schedule on a work night when I’d rather be reading a book or watching TV with my wife to write this out, do not think I take your (in)actions or mine lightly.

Thank you.
Nick McNulty
Medford MA