The same political games

Editorial The Lowell Sun

Didn’t Deval Patrick run on the premise that it wouldn’t be business as usual on Beacon Hill if he were elected?

Yet, that’s all we have seen since Patrick took office earlier this month.

Last week, Patrick was quietly negotiating a reorganization plan with legislative leaders that would have broken up some committees and increased the pay of committee chairs by a total of $80,000.

In return, Patrick expected to be given legislative support for his proposals, including gaining control over quasi-independent agencies, such as the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, was right on target when she said the arrangement sounded like bribery to her. That’s what it sounds like to us, too. If buying lawmakers’ support with pay raises — or stipend increases, as Patrick prefers to call them — isn’t illegal, it should be.

Fortunately, the deal fell apart over the weekend — no one is saying why — and lawmakers such as House Speaker Sal DiMasi and Senate President Robert Travaglini will have to keep struggling to make ends meet on their $93,237 annual salaries. Keep in mind that this month all legislators received an automatic 4.8 percent pay increase. How many Massachusetts taxpayers, in the private sector, received a pay raise anywhere near 4.8 percent this year? They can probably be counted on one hand.

Plus, this cloak-and-dagger negotiating was happening while Patrick was wailing about the Bay State’s $1 billion deficit. If finances are so tight, why was he secretly pushing a deal to boost some salaries?

Of course, this isn’t the first move by Patrick that should spark concern from his grass-roots supporters. Recall that private lobbyists and corporations donated up to $50,000 each to finance the more than $1 million cost of seven inaugural bashes. And, Patrick, who promised transparency in government, asks transition team members and job applicants to sign confidentiality agreements against leaking information to the media. And, after insisting during his campaign there was $750 million in wasteful spending in the state budget, he now acknowledges there is not.

We can understand legislators negotiating and compromising on various issues — programs and funding that benefit their constituency — but to negotiate support for legislation based on personal pay increases is completely unacceptable and should be illegal.