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... from the Campaign Trail ...

Stein Rejects Patrick's Suggested Fare And Toll Hikes - Vows Not To Balance Budget On The Backs Of Working People

Jill Stein
Massachusetts

2010/10/15
Jill Stein for Governor
Contact: Daryl Sprague, Campaign Manager, 617-459-0784
info@jillstein.org, www.jillstein.org

"It's clear that the people of Massachusetts are going to suffer if Deval Patrick is in office to implement a sales tax rollback" according the gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein.  Stein was referring to an interview in the Boston Herald in which Patrick said that he would hike MBTA fares and Turnpike tolls if voters approved the sales tax rollback (Question 3) on the November 2 ballot.
 
"Governor Patrick has gone all over the state threatening to cut schools and health care if Question 3 passes.  Now he's threatening to implement regressive fare and toll increases that will hit ordinary people hard.  It's an insult to the working people of Massachusetts to ask them to pay more while refusing to touch corporate welfare and tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected."
 
Stein said that over the past four years the Governor has "endorsed and promoted just about every regressive fee and fare increase he could think of" including hikes in MBTA fares, college fees, cigarette taxes, taxes on soda and candy, taxes on beer and wine, restaurant meal taxes, service fees for disabled children, and co-pays for doctor's visits.  "He even tried to charge people $5 to call the Registry of Motor Vehicles, but that one was beaten back."
 
"I haven't yet heard the Governor say that the $9 million footbridge he wants to build for his billionaire friend is threatened by Question 3" observed Stein.  "He still seems to expect the taxpayers to cough up the money to save that project. And in his love-in forums with the Beacon Hill business lobbyists, he hasn't yet told them that their favorite giveaway programs are at risk. It's only the ordinary people who seem to be in harm's way."
 
Stein said that if Question 3 were to pass she would address the revenue loss by undertaking a "top-to-bottom clean-up" of the $1.6 billion in economic development aid that the state gives out annually.  "That enormous loss to the state budget has never been subjected to scrutiny by the Patrick Administration.  It's studded with corporate handouts for jobs that were never created and giveaways that have long outlived their justification.  We also need a serious trimming of the patronage hires that the Democratic Party has burdened us with over the years.  Let's trim that waste before we start cutting schools or hiking tolls and fares."
 
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