Shameless Gary Gnu reference

I’m a few days late, but I want to offer a quick rebuttal to JoAnn Fitzpatrick, whose op-ed, Sparse history’s made in a year with potential, appeared in Monday’s Boston Herald.

I don’t disagree with Ms. Fitzpatrick’s argument. 2007 was not an extraordinarily productive year for the Legislature. What I disagree with is the premise upon which her argument is based. An unproductive legislature is not de facto a bad legislature. Our state representatives and senators – and, for that matter, our congressmen and women – should not be expected to create laws simply because they can.

This mindset – that our state and federal legislatures must always be doing things – has contributed to a culture in which Massachusetts’ budget has nearly tripled in just the last fifteen years.

Sometimes, no news is good news.