Entries by Steve Poftak

So which is it?

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From the Boston Globe of August 9: Cahill’s sharply worded statement is the most serious political breach to erupt between Patrick and a major Democratic figure since his inauguration in January…. Political insiders say much of the breach between Patrick and Cahill stems from the decision last April by Cahill’s one time top political consultant, Doug Rubin, to join the governor as his chief of staff. The relationship between Rubin and Cahill has been strained as the two offices grapple over several difficult issues…. Yesterday’s public flare-up was sparked when….. From the Boston Phoenix of August 15: Cahill has long been closer to Patrick than most in state government — a source in the treasurer’s office says they worked with […]

Conventional Wisdom Confusion (plus a MS Word bonus)

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Organic is good. Walmart is bad. Right? So what happens when Whole Foods (a huge seller of organic items) forces its suppliers to sell through (higher cost) distributors to Walmart, thereby raising prices and limiting the potential market for organic food. So confused… Oh, and that bonus. We get to learn about the Whole Foods tactic from a poorly redacted legal filing released (and subsequently withdrawn) by the Federal Trade Commission. It seems that some poor soul over there ‘redacted’ the sensitive information by using MS Word to turn the background black to match the color of the type. An enterprising AP reporter changed the background color off, revealing the sensitive data.

Before we spent billions on public construction…

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…would it be worth it to reexamine the contracting process? Barry LePatner thinks so. (Plus he gets bonus points for citing Pioneer in the article.) He questions why the contracting process insulates the service providers from almost all risk. Then partially answers his question by noting that the structure of the construction industry is almost unchanged from 100 years ago. I don’t pretend to have expertise in the subject, but its a provocative read. And probably a conversation worth having before we embark on any more mega-projects.

CPA Point and Counterpoint

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We take a break from our usual self-promotion, to promote another think tank’s work — the Rappaport Institute has authored a study on the Community Preservation Act that has several major findings: 1) the CPA transfers funds from poor urban communities to affluent ones, particular to Middlesex County and the Cape, 2) it does not seem to promote affordable housing very effectively (particularly relative to open space), and 3) there’s not enough data on what the funds are being used for. The authors of the study make their case in this Globe op-ed. And are rebutted in this Globe op-ed. Both sides seem to agree that some reform is needed. They agree on the need for better data. The Rappaport […]

We should pay certain farmers to keep farming

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Sunday’s Globe brings us a long editorial praising the Administration’s commitment to the acquisition of open space in the Commonwealth, including a paragraph-length paean to the Agricultural Preservation Restriction program. This program seems innocuous enough — purchasing the development rights to key strategic parcels of farmland to preserve their agricultural usage. Even I can see some limited utility for this program, in concept, if it protected parcels in rapidly developing areas or that had important environmental qualities. But doesn’t this preservation compete with things like housing or commercial development? (Aha, the countervailing incentives for these programs are elsewhere in the capital budget.) Most tiresome for this observer is the location of many of the selected parcels, typically they are indistinguishable […]

Let the handwringing begin…

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CVS has sought state permission to open MinuteClinics in a number of its retail stores. Minute Clinics provide a limited array of medical services (think simple illnesses, like ear infections and strep throat and vaccinations) at set prices or through insurance. They operate in 19 states and offer an interesting alternative — transparent pricing, convenient locations, and no hassles with doctor’s appointments or emergency rooms. Not to sound like a shill for the company — there are some questions about how these clinics would affect continuity of care (i.e. its better to have a single point of contact for medical services who has an overview of your entire medical record) and screening for more sophisticated diagnoses (e.g. a case of […]

Will they return the money?

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Today’s New York Times reports that the ethanol boom, among other reasons, is driving up the price of farmland, particularly in corn-growing areas of states like Iowa. Good thing we’ve subsidized agriculture to the tune of $164.7 billion from 1995 to 2005. Click here to get the searchable database of farm subsidies by almost every imaginable category. And to address the story’s point more directly, farmers in Iowa have received corn subsidies of $9.9 billion during the same period.

I love New England too, but this is ridiculous.

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I’m a born and bred New Englander, but I find it odd that the leaders of two major European powers choose to vacation here. President Sarkozy’s stay in Wolfeboro, NH has been well-chronicled. But the UK’s Gordon Brown is a regular on Cape Cod (at least until this year). Maybe a coast of Maine getaway for Andrea Merkel is in the works?

Save the Longfellow!!

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Our Legacy of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge and the Cost of Deferred Maintenance Pioneer released its latest research report, Our Legacy of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge and the Cost of Deferred Maintenance, yesterday. Take a look at the website we put together to launch the paper at www.savethelongfellow.com. In particular, you should click on the link for the photo-rich presentation — a slide show of beautiful photos by Pioneer’s own Peter Begley. The paper itself details the Commonwealth’s neglect of the bridge – there have only been two maintenance projects of any scale on the bridge in its 100 year history. But, the Longfellow is just a small part of a much larger story: the extent to which we’ve neglected […]

Fixing Maintenance in Massachusetts

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The horrifying spectacle of the Minnesota bridge collapse has prompted a national reevaluation of the condition of our public infrastructure. In Massachusetts, two recent reports have found a multi-billion dollar backlog of deferred maintenance.

Welcome Aboard the Massachusetts Business Cost Express!

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A hearty welcome to the New England Public Policy Center at the Boston Fed. They’ve just released a memo detailing some of the high costs facing Massachusetts’ business (PDF, or link). Their findings include: Massachusetts does not have right-to-work laws, which “[m]ost research has found…. [to] have a positive impact on employment and business formation” Based on Economy.com’s Cost of Business Index, “[a]ll New England states are ranked as having high business costs, with Massachusetts being particularly expensive.” Using a Forbes’ Regulatory Environment Index, “most New England states have relatively burdensome regulatory climates, although Massachusetts (29) and Vermont (35) are ranked toward the middle.” Pioneer is pleased to have the New England Public Policy Center on board our continuing efforts […]

Dinosaurs Becoming Extinct, Slowly

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Hurrah, the State Police have finally stopped giving driving tests to 16 year olds in Massachusetts!!! A full 15 years after the merger of the Registry Police with the State Police, the Commonwealth has finally figured out (as part of collective bargaining, of course) that we probably don’t need trained, armed (and highly compensated) officers giving these exams.

Micromanaging the Courts

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The conference budget came out last Friday. There’s plenty of grist for the mill there, but I direct your attention to the following section: SECTION 26. Section 58 of chapter 218 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 76, the words “an assistant clerk” and inserting in place thereof the following words :- a first assistant clerk and 3 assistant clerks. Its worth your while to take a look at the law in question. It lays out in precise and excruciating detail the staffing levels and salaries of a large portion of court personnel. Section 26, above, mandates that the particular district court in question hire 3 additional clerks. Pioneer has long […]

Our Legacy of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge and the Cost of Deferred Maintenance

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The Longfellow Bridge, connecting Boston and Cambridge, is in bad shape, due not only to its age and the ravages of our weather, but also to a troubling and persistent lack of maintenance. Fixing the bridge, in effect paying the bill for our unwillingness to maintain it, is estimated to cost at least $180 million, with the potential for cost overruns reaching into the hundreds of millions.

Gratuitous Yankee Bashing

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Not our traditional topic, but who can resist kicking the Yankees when they are down. This post is dedicated to Pioneer’s own embedded Yankee fan, Mr. Chieppo. If you’ve followed Roger Clemens’ return, you’ve undoubted heard the live call of his reintroduction to Yankee Stadium, where WCBS Broadcaster Suzyn Waldman makes a home town call that would have made Johnny Most blush. He’s now 1-3 with an ERA of over 5. A less charitable colleague might be tempted to echo Edward G. Murrow in The Ten Commandments and ask “where’s your messiah, now?”. But not this correspondent, no sirree.

Movement on Pension Fund Consolidation

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Pioneer brought up the idea of consolidation underperforming local pension funds in our May 2006 paper, Leaving Money on the Table. We noted that underperformance (relative to the major state fund, PRIM) had left $1.6 billion on the table in the ten year period ending in 2004. We recommended folding all the underperforming funds into PRIT. The Governor recommended folding all the funds that underperformed by 2.25% over 5 years and were below 80% funded into PRIT. Now, the Joint Committee on Public Service has recommended folding all funds that underperformed by 2% over 10 years and were below 65% funded into PRIT. The bill would have an immediate effect on 25 public pension funds that have left an estimated […]

Jim Stergios on MCAS

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Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios appeared on NECN’s Newsnight last evening. He spoke in favor of the MCAS on a panel with the decidedly anti-MCAS Lisa Guisbond of FairTest. Check it out here.  (Bear with it, you have to sit through an ad first.)

Tooting My Own Horn – Biotech Edition

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Pioneer has had a lot to say about the Governor’s biotech proposal — some positive, some negative — but the exact parameters of the proposal are not yet clear. There’s a lot of discussion around research grants, paying for equipment, and tax incentives, but a many details remain to be filled in. The Administration is having its first meeting of a large advisory group to begin the work on those details. My thoughts, from an article in this morning’s Globe: Patrick has won praise from life-science leaders for the inclusiveness of his approach to building and luring a competitive industry. But as his plans become more concrete, letting biotech leaders suggest ways to give cash to their own industry raises […]

The Vatican takes on its most daunting target

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The Vatican has just put out its “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road“, which I have to believe is aimed directly at Massachusetts drivers, rated as the worst in the nation. A brief snippet: Sometimes the prohibitions imposed by road signs may be perceived as restrictions of freedom. Especially when unobserved and unmonitored, some people are tempted to infringe such limitations, which are in fact designed to protect them and other people. Some drivers thus consider the duty to respect certain prudent regulations that reduce traffic risks and dangers as humiliating. Others deem it intolerable – almost a curtailment of their “rights” – to be obliged to follow patiently another vehicle that is travelling slowly, because, for example, […]

More Pension Fun

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Today’s Globe has two stories on pensions today. In the first, it reports that the Board of Higher Ed has changed its policy to include housing allowances in the calculation of pension benefits for its college presidents. Former UMASS president Bulger won his court case on this matter, so it appears that the board really had no choice. But the whole matter prompts some questions: How did we get into the practice of paying housing allowances in the first place? I’ve heard several times that this is ‘standard practice’, but the Globe reports: Last year, the American Council on Education surveyed 2,148 public and private college presidents nationwide and found that 20 percent received housing allowances and 28 percent lived […]

Great Moments in Powerpoint

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No, not the Gettysburg Address. (Full site is here.) At a recent conference for government procurement officers, the chief procurement officer of the Director of National Intelligence’s office gave a powerpoint presentation. She hid the labels on Slide 11 that gave our national intelligence budget, but after it was posted online, you could double click on the chart to see the (understandably classified) actual numbers. Using the data on Slide 11, and dividing by the ratio on Slide 10, inquiring minds now know that our government spends $56.52 billion on intelligence. Ooops. Tip of the pen to Slate for the initial links.

Happy Bunker Hill Day

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Caught the annual parade in Charlestown on Sunday. This parade usually gets a good turnout of political types and the crowd’s reaction (or lack thereof) can be a telling sign. My award for the parade are: Biggest Reaction – Michael Flaherty, hands-down, got the biggest reaction from the crowd. And he gets extra credit for the retro-cool innovation of handing out emery boards with his name on them (Editor’s Note: This is not a retro-cool innovation, he’s serious.) Who The Heck Is That – City Council-At-Large Candidate Marty Hogan apparently marched in the parade. No one had any idea who the poor fellow was. It’s still not clear which of the roughly 3 – 5 people marching behind his banner […]

Whatever you do say nothing

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…when you talk about you know what. The above line is from an old Irish song (full lyrics below), mocking some unspeakable truth that can’t be related in polite company. I thought of it today reading about the travails of John Hynes who had the audacity to say the following, as an explanation for his plan to open a private school as part of a major development in the Seaport: Unfortunately, 200 to 300 young families leave the city annually because they don’t want to send their kids to private school, can’t get into the public school of choice, or don’t want their 7-year-old spending two hours traveling to a private school, so they move to the suburbs (Quoted in […]

How Much Have Business Taxes Increased?

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Upon release of the Governor’s budget, the issue of business taxes came to the fore. A coalition of business groups claimed that taxes had increased by $1 billion over the past few years. The administration, a bit snarkily (but with creative use of technology), replied that these claims were outrageous. A tip of the pen to Blue Mass Group as the source for these documents. (Curious why a release attributed to the Governor’s Office only shows up on that site? I am too.) However, we’ve got a new, unimpeachable source of data to referee these claims — the Commonwealth’s Official Statement. (Another tip of the pen– to A Healthy Blog for figuring out how to post this publicly). It details […]

Tooting My Own Horn

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Ripped from today’s headlines: “I think there’s certainly a tremendous amount of vision in the education plan, but I approach the financing side of it with a great deal of trepidation,” said Steve Poftak, research director for the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank. “I think it’s going to be tremendously difficult to come up with the funds for each one of these initiatives.”

Too Much Innovation from the Public Sector?

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Have you seen the logo for the 2012 Olympics in London? It appears they dropped the original submission. Also, the rollout presentation is triggering seizures. The organizers of the event have, rather bravely but perversely, opened up their website for individuals to design their own logos. Many of which are substantially better than the one that was chosen. The BBC also has been soliciting its patrons for new designs. The third one in the gallery is my favorite. Oh, and did we mention that the organizing committee paid 400,000 pounds for a consulting group to develop the chosen design?

The Dog That Never Barked

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With apologies to Sherlock Holmes, today’s Steve Bailey column on the potential expansion of the Boston Common Parking Garage contains a reference to “a recent study by a state commission that concluded Boston could continue to support two convention centers”. The study (and the reference) are interesting for a couple of reasons. This study was produced with state funds, yet its never been released in its entirety to the public. The commission that produced it never voted on its contents, nor is there any record of them meeting in the year before it was released. And only one commission member appeared at the press conference releasing the document. We have requested (again) a copy of the report in its entirety […]

You are Fired!!??

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Submerged three paragraphs down in the Globe’s “New England in Brief” section is this little nugget: Two top state officials — Registrar of Motor Vehicles Anne L. Collins and MassHighway Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky…are back on the job, after being fired Thursday…Top sources in the Patrick administration said the mistake was the result of a mix-up in communication with the governor’s office; they said that the administration is considering whether Collins and Paiewonsky will remain in place.

Traitors In Our Midst

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Pioneer is a think tank dedicated to the work of making Massachusetts a better place to live. So, it’s with a heavy heart that we open today’s paper and learn the sordid truth about one of our beloved colleagues: Charles Chieppo, a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, while conceding that the Yankees are “so pathetic this year,” points out that the current squad is not the first underperforming Yankees team in history. Chieppo first became a Yankees fan in 1966, when they finished last in the American League.

Baker-Levy Smackdown, Part Two

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Paul Levy runs Beth Israel, an academic medical center (and a good blog in his spare time). Charlie Baker runs Harvard Pilgrim, one of the state’s largest health insurers. They’ve chatted online from time to time and their latest exchange covers a few of the hot topics in healthcare. Charlie notes that people in Massachusetts use academic medical centers (read as higher cost providers) disproportionately more than other states. And that several of these centers are aggressively expanding. Paul responds that many of these centers are effectively neighborhood hospitals, that many people perceive them as providing higher levels of care, and that there is not enough good quality, current data available.  He’s right, but we’d point to our 2004 report […]