Tough work to come next year for Patrick, lawmakers

Steve LeBlanc

In one of their final votes before heading out on holiday recess just before Thanksgiving, lawmakers handed Gov. Deval Patrick a win, passing the first bill he filed as governor — legislation creating a volunteer “Commonwealth Corps.”

Patrick had hoped that the bill, which creates a corps of volunteers who devote at least a year working full-time or part-time with the needy, might spark a similar spirit of cooperation on Beacon Hill. There’s been some of that, but Patrick has also encountered his share of friction with the Democrat-controlled Legislature during his freshman year as the state’s first Democratic governor in nearly two decades.

Action has stalled or been put off until next year on many of Patrick’s top initiatives, including his sweeping 10-year, $1 billion life sciences initiative and his call for the creation of three “resort-style” casinos dotted across the state. Other initiatives, like his call for a “local options” tax plan for cash-strapped cities and towns, have been all but scuttled by lawmakers.

At times, Patrick has publicly chastised lawmakers for not acting swiftly enough.

“I was sent here to make change and it is frustrating the pace of change,” he said in October, urging lawmakers to quickly schedule a public hearing for his life sciences bill. “If there are proposals pending, then I fully expect that they’re going to get a hearing.”

That prompted legislative leaders like Senate President Therese Murray to suggest that Patrick was still thinking like a corporate executive, instead of a governor forced to share power.

But there have also been some meetings of the minds in the past year. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who has found himself at odds with Patrick on issues such as casinos, said those occasional differences haven’t gotten in the way of successes like the energy bill or Commonwealth Corps proposals.

“Gov. Patrick and Sen. President Murray are true partners and I am pleased with what we have been able to accomplish already,” DiMasi said as the House’s formal sessions for the year wrapped up. DiMasi said he expected an “even more impressive list of accomplishments at this time next year,” as lawmakers pick up their pace as they near the end of their two-year session.

Patrick, DiMasi and Senate leaders were all smiles again earlier this month when Patrick signed a bill appropriating $15 million in fuel assistance for low-income families and the elderly.

As proof of the cooperation between Patrick and the Legislature, House lawmakers point to the 170 bills Patrick has already signed into law, more than had become law by this point in 2005 or 2003. But the House and Senate were also quick to note their own accomplishments. Leaders in each branch recently issued a legislative report card tallying up their successes, including bills to:

• Extend the 18-foot buffer zone to a 35-foot fixed buffer zone around all entrances and driveways of all abortion clinics;

• Expand tax incentives for the film industry to lure more movie productions to Massachusetts, and;

• Assist homeowners caught up in the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Lawmakers also met in a joint session this year to debate, and ultimately defeat, a ballot measure that would have banned gay marriage in Massachusetts.

Not everyone is impressed with the Legislature’s efforts, however. House Republicans sent out satirical Thanksgiving cards mocking Democrats for failing to come up with property tax relief or doing more to fix roads and bridges.

The true test of the ability of Patrick and the Legislature to reach a middle ground will come next year, when some of the governor’s biggest and more controversial proposals — including the casino initiatives — could come up for votes.

In the meantime, Patrick can celebrate his early victories, like the Commonwealth Corps bill.
Steve LeBlanc covers the State House for The Associated Press.

(Associated Press)