In the News - 2002

Editorial: Stanley's Approach   (The Haverhill Gazette, May 2002)

House lawmakers overwhelmingly reinstated a $1.14 billion tax hike yesterday - less than 24 hours after acting Gov. Jane M. Swift nixed it.

The ink was barely dry on Swift's veto before House members voted, 120-29, to restore the biggest tax hike in state history.

The five-tax package now proceeds to the Senate, where President Thomas F. Birmingham, a gubernatorial candidate, has described it as a "fait accompli."

Eight Democrats bucked Finneran by voting against the tax hike, including two chairmen - House Personnel and Administration head James R. Miceli (D-Wilmington) and Health Care chief Harriett L. Stanley.

Like other Democrats who left the reservation, Stanley (D-West Newbury) said she didn't like being forced to take an up-or-down vote on a whole stack of tax hikes, not all of which she supported.

"Packages are for vacations, not for tax policy," Stanley said.

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State lawmakers have earmarked $2 million in federal money to help pay the city's debt from the former Hale Hospital.

State Reps. Brian S. Dempsey, D-Haverhill and Harriett L. Stanley, D-West Newbury, got the money from the state Division of Medical Assistance to help ease the city's budget crunch.

Hale Hospital was bought by Essent Healthcare in August 2001. After the sale, the city still owes about $20 million from its final years in the hospital business. Essent changed the name to Merrimack Valley Hospital in November 2001.

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It was cute of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran to hold up votes on tax hikes until the deadline for turning in nomination papers for state legislature quietly slipped by.

With no one running against them, most state representatives had only moderate difficulty deciding to give Finneran more money to spend next year.

That's exactly what will happen. We have all been taken in by the chatter about plunging state revenues and threatened cuts in school aid and all over the place. It was window dressing that allows the legislature to do what it always does, spend more money in any given year than it did the year before, some of it badly.

State Rep. Harriett L. Stanley, who represents part of Haverhill, had the honesty to acknowledge this, saying the House raised double what it needed to cope with revenue shortfalls in an economic slump.

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Haverhill's two state Representatives parted ways on tax hikes last week.

Brian S. Dempsey, D-Haverhill, voted for a combination of increases recommended by the House Ways and Means Committee while Harriett L. Stanley voted against them.

Stanley said the increases raised three times what was needed to keep Chapter 70 school aid intact.

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The cowardly lions of the Massachusetts House of Representatives are congratulating themselves on their "courage" in passing a $1 billion increase in state taxes.

What they are really talking about, of course, is their weak-kneed avoidance of the tough choice needed to cut spending and their sheep like devotion to House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran.

It's no surprise they call cowardice courage. In the mouths of legislators, words often mean the opposite of what they signify to most people.

Take the word "temporary", as in the "temporary" income tax increase imposed by the state more than a decade ago. The bravehearts of the House voted Thursday to make a higher tax rate virtually permanent.

But some true examples of courage were on display in the House this week. Five local lawmakers stood up for the people they represent and said "no" to the billion-dollar hike.

These lawmakers deserve credit for daring to take such a stand: Barry R. Finegold, D-Andover; Bradford R. Hill, R-Ipswich; Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading; Harriett L. Stanley, D-West Newbury; and David M. Torrisi, D-North Andover.

Finegold, Stanley and Torrisi showed special courage. They broke with leaders of their own party to stand for principle. They were among only six Democrats statewide who refused to join the stampede.

It was by no means an easy decision.

"It's always difficult to go against Democratic leadership," said Torrisi. "But at the end of the day, you have to represent your district."

Stanley described the pressure to go along as "intense" and said a Democratic colleague serving in Bosnia "may have the easier duty."

Five local Democratic House members voted "yes" to higher taxes: Arthur J. Broadhurst Jr. of Methuen, Brian S. Dempsey of Haverhill, David M. Nangle of Lowell, Jose L. Santiago of Lawrence and Paul E. Tirone of Amesbury.

Senate leaders plan their own package of tax increases. The two bodies will then try to hash out a "compromise" plan that will burden their constituents with hundreds of dollars in permanent new costs just as the economy seems to be turning around.

Courage? Gall is more like it. Courage is what it will take to stop them.

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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a tax package yesterday that would pump more than $1 billion into the state's coffers and help prevent some deep cuts to popular programs.

Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, was just one of six Democrats to vote against it, while Rep. Paul Tirone, D-Amesbury, voted for the tax package.

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Merrimack Valley lawmakers didn't fall neatly into line when the House of Representatives passed a controversial $1 billion tax package yesterday by an overwhelming margin of 131-23.

Several local lawmakers went their own way, casting dissenting votes against one of the biggest tax packages ever proposed in the state.

Of the six Democrats who broke with party leadership, three came from the Merrimack Valley: state Reps. Barry R. Finegold of Andover, Harriett L. Stanley of West Newbury, and David M. Torrisi of North Andover.

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The water board in Newburyport thinks it is misunderstood by people, especially people in Newbury who are afraid that the board might want to take their land by eminent domain some day.

Its members think they are being painted as the villains in the debate over taking water and sewer lines to Plum Island.

The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of "villains" to go around, ranging from the state to local variety.

But the water board certainly does put itself out there as a particularly tempting target; something they continued to do this week.

In one breath, they were complaining about the public perception of themselves. In the next, they were asking Mayor Lavender and the City Council to get tough with Newbury.

They don't want to hear about the compromise being proposed by state Rep. Harriett Stanley, which specifies that water taken from Newbury should only supply Newbury residents.

(For his part, Lavender said he thinks that there should be some sort of compromise on Stanley's compromise, but then had nothing in particular to suggest.)

One of the problems is that the water board is projecting an image of itself that it "knows what's best" for Newbury.

This will present obstacles in all walks of life, but particularly when it comes to New England towns, which are vehemently independent and proud.

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As community colleges across the state face the possibility of dramatic cuts, state Rep. Harriett Stanley is leading an effort to ensure the state's budget ax doesn't fall on them this time around.

Stanley filed a budget amendment yesterday that would prevent about $25 million in community colleges cuts that have been proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee's latest budget.

The measure, which has been co-sponsored by 25 other state lawmakers, also would make some changes to the state's scholarship account to compensate for protecting the community colleges' funds.

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She never took the three to six months off her doctors said she should after they removed a noncanerous brain tumor from the right side of her head last December.

Instead, state Rep. Harriett L. Stanley had someone drive her to the State House Jan. 30th, so she could cast a vote in favor of making insurance companies offer birth control for women.

"They said that my vote might be necessary, so I came down for it," said the four-term Democrat from West Newbury.

The bill passed, but after four hours at work, Stanley, 51, was wiped out and she went home exhausted.

However today is a different story.

"I feel excellent," Stanley said, less than four months after a benign meningioma was removed from above her right ear.

Today marks Stanley's official full-time return to her duties. She had been coming in most days in March and started coming in a few days a week back in February.

"It's the official day back, and believe me, I had some trepidation about coming back April Fools' Day," Stanley joked.

Known for her high energy, Stanley, health care committee chairwoman, has kept in touch with her aides via phone and fax during her recover, which she said her surgeon, Dr. Peter McLaren Black, called "spectacular."

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In another twist to the Plum Island water and sewer project, town meeting made a turnaround last night to ensure that the way the $22.9 million project is paid for stays the same.

Voters rescinded an article approved at a special town meeting less than a month ago, which would have left town meeting responsible to set betterment fees for water and sewer lines on Plum Island.

"The pendulum swings again," said state Rep. Harriett Stanley, who appeared at last night's meeting with state Sen. Bruce Tarr.

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A budget approved for West Newbury, Merrimac and Groveland schools last month remains Pentucket School leaders' spending plan, despite warnings that the state may cut funding for education by 10 percent.

The state House Ways and Means Committee is expected to release a budget proposal this week that would make cuts to Chapter 70 funding for the next fiscal year. These cuts could take away $1.2 million from Pentucket schools for the next school year.

McLaughlin worried about not taking the proposed state funding cuts seriously, particularly after state Rep. Harriett Stanley, who represents the area, told the district that the cuts were "realistic and municipalities will need to prepare accordingly."

"We're uncharted waters," McLaughlin said. "Certainly since ed reform (was passed in 1993) we've never seen anything like this happen."

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Local state Representatives are split on their response to a call by House Speaker Thomas Finneran to voluntarily take an eight-day unpaid furlough to help the state save money.

State Rep. Paul Tirone, D-Amesbury, is going along with the speaker's plan, while Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, is among more than a dozen House members balking at the proposal. Stanley plans to donate the money to the seven communities she represents.

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Dozens of House members are balking at coughing up eight days' pay to do their part for the fiscal crisis - even as they prepare to levy giant tax hikes on citizens statewide.

House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran threw down the gauntlet in late February, challenging lawmakers to voluntarily give up about $1,800 apiece to show solidarity with state workers in danger of layoffs.

Health Care Committee Chairman Rep. Harriett Stanley (D-West Newbury) and Rep. Ellen Story (D-Amherst) will take their pay for the eight days in question, pay taxes on it, then divvy the money among their communities to by school supplies or softball equipment.

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Newbury is searching for ways to supply water to Plum Island in order to break the impasse over an issue that continues to jeopardize the water and sewer project.

Newbury and Newburyport are divided over a proposal that would allow Newburyport to search for water and take land in the Old Town section of Newbury. A firm majority of voters in Newbury do not want to give up eminent domain rights to Newburyport despite warnings that there would be no other way to supply water to Newbury residents of Plum Island.

The Planning Board in Newbury has now stepped in to offer an alternative and "break the deadlock on eminent domain," said board member David Mountain last night.

The board wants to follow through with language in an inter-municipal agreement between the city and the town, which would give Newburyport unfettered access to Newbury's water sources between Byfield and Plum Island.

The language has never been approved at a town meeting - it was signed by the Board of Selectman. Neither has the language been endorsed within a special act now before the state Legislature. Sen. Bruce Tarr and Rep. Harriett Stanley have insisted that they will not put the bill forward until compromises are made, mostly on the Newburyport's side.

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Under mounting fiscal pressure, Beacon Hill lawmakers are launching a major examination and retooling of the state's Medicaid program, which is now swallowing up on-fourth of state spending after generous expansions of the health program during the boom years of the 1990s.

Elected leaders say they hope to avoid major cuts in Medicaid access and services, but even the most optimistic concede that there may be no other way to significantly rein in costs of the program, which provides health coverage to the uninsured. Medicaid in Massachusetts has added 300,000 people in the last four years, and coverage is now offered to nearly 1 million poor, elderly, and disabled residents - about a sixth of the total state population.

"By making a few small decisions, we've allowed Medicaid to expand and expand and expand," said state Representative Harriett L. Stanley, House Chairwoman of the Legislature's Health Care Committee. "We didn't know how much they'd cost."

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