Let's Reach for That (Slot Machine)!

Today Deval Patrick has been Governor of the Commonwealth for exactly 2 weeks. An honest newspaper would ask concerning the new administration:

Has Deval Patrick ever met a tax he didn’t like?

Examples from recent Boston Globe news stories:

• December 21: Opposing the Turnpike Authority, Patrick advocates maintaining tolls on the western Mass Turnpike
• January 13: Patrick proposes allowing local restaurant meal taxes of 1-3%
• January 13: Reversing a campaign stance, Patrick says he will consider casino gambling as a possible source of additional state revenue.
• January 13: Patrick proposes rolling back property tax exemptions for the telecommunications industry, one of the state’s largest employers
• January 14: Patrick proposes financing part of his plan for additional police with a pathetic proposal for a new series of “safety fees” accessed against lawbreakers.
• January 17: The Patrick administration will freeze the state income tax exemption rather than index it, netting an additional $60M per year
• January 18: Patrick proposes charging power plants for emissions of greenhouse gases. The net is $50-130M in state revenue, but the result is higher electricity prices; in effect a completely hidden and very regressive tax.

On the spending side:

• December 29: Patrick will restore the entire 1.7% state spending cut ($425M) imposed by outgoing Governor Mitt Romney, including $100,000 for Braintree’s new gazebo, despite forecasts of a budget squeeze and smaller state revenue growth.

Where has the Globe’s journalistic skepticism gone? On the spin side here is the delicious way the Globe reported Patrick’s edging toward reneging on his campaign stance against casino gambling:

…Patrick said he was opposed to expanded gambling but has since said he's willing to listen to supporters

He’s willing to listen. Isn’t that just so big of him? And given this track record of decisions after only 2 weeks, who should doubt that before long Patrick will be willing to do more than just listen? After all, the state lottery handle is only $4.3 BILLION per year. The state has not yet maximized the gambling gaming revenue potential of the citizens!

When he said “let’s reach for that”, was he referring to the arm of a slot machine?