# Howie Carr solves this mess



## MCADPD24 (Nov 7, 2008)

_Tomorrow, the House begins budget hearings against a dire fiscal backdrop - a state that is $400 million in the red, with layoffs, service cuts and new taxes looming. Following is Howie Carr's 10-point plan for rescuing Massachusetts._
Let's get right to the cutting - this is by no means a comprehensive list, but it'll do for a start.
No. 1: Close at least one-third of the state's district courthouses and lay off everybody working in them, from judges to janitors. We're not talking about shutting down any courts with heavy caseloads, only places with busier courts nearby (like Charlestown and Brookline) or those in the boondocks, where seldom is heard any case of any significance, and never on Fridays.

Perhaps the best example of an unneeded district court is the one in Ipswich, covering those crime-ridden burgs of Hamilton, Wenham, Topsfield and Ipswich. Let Newburyport handle all those polo-pony rustling cases, not to mention the clam poachers.
How about Orange District Court? According to Mass. Lawyers Diary, Orange has two judges, a clerk-magistrate, an assistant clerk magistrate, a sessions clerk, a chief probation officer, an assistant chief probation officer and three probation officers. And that doesn't even include the "custodians," translators or secretaries.
Consider Stoughton District Court. It employs five - count 'em, five - probation officers. How many urine samples do you really need to collect each week in the mean streets of Avon?
Talk about forgotten but not gone. At Gardner District Court, one $67,039.95-a-year probation officer is named Monte G. Basbas Jr. Surely he's not related to the late Monte G. Basbas Sr., former mayor of Newton and then presiding justice of the Newton District Court.
A very partial list of other eminently closable courthouses: Hingham, Wareham, Attleboro, Natick, Peabody, Palmer, Dudley, Clinton, Uxbridge and Winchendon.
No. 2: Move as many agencies and branches as possible out of their privately owned digs where they are often charged exorbitant rents by well-connected landlords. How many RMV branches could you move into the shuttered courthouses?
No. 3: Mr. Patrick, tear down those toll booths. It is absolutely the most ineffective way to collect taxes - according to at least one estimate, it costs as much as 79 cents to collect a buck at the tollbooths, and that doesn't even include the rampant thievery. The gas tax, as odious as it is, costs less than a penny to collect a dollar's worth of taxes.
No. 4: This one is for the Republican party: Run candidates in every legislative district, even if you have to put up the lame and the halt. That was how Tip O'Neill did it in the 1940s - he'd field Democrats in even the most Republican districts, getting the challenger's name out and waiting for the GOP incumbent to retire or move on, at which point the Democrat would have more name recognition than the new Republican. Every cycle, Tip's Dems picked off a few more GOP seats. The Democrats finally took over the Massachusetts House in 1946, and haven't looked back. The other plus: Whenever a summer scandal breaks (think OUI, think young girlfriend working for lobbyist, think money-laundering scheme), the Republicans would already have a candidate in place to take advantage of the anti-incumbent vote.
No. 5: Begin ending entitlements. Take the Quinn Bill - please. Does anyone, even cops, seriously argue that a B.A. these days means anything other than BS? Yet these cops' phony-baloney degrees are costing the taxpayers $50 million a year. A leadership effort in the House to rein them in has already failed, even before the budget comes to the floor. The solons are more fearful of the unions than they are of the taxpayers, and as long as they are running unopposed (see No. 4) why shouldn't they be?
No. 6: Abolish outside sections to the budget, those hundreds of pages of arcane matters attached in conference committee without either public input or fingerprints. This is where a lot of the real mischief occurs, especially with pension finagling. Every piece of legislation should have a hearing and be debated openly, which happens less than ever - although for some reason, the steep drop-off in formal sessions has caused no corresponding decrease in the number of days the reps claim they come to the State House, the better to collect their per diems.
No. 7: Speaking of which, abolish per diems for legislators. It's a relatively small amount of money (between $10 and $110 a day) but all that free money (doled out on the honor system, believe it or not) sends the wrong message. Their constituents don't get paid for driving to work, why should the reps? And while we're at, no more take-home state vehicles, period.
No. 8: Fire every state employee with more than one diminutive in his title. Words like deputy, associate, assistant, vice, executive - these are mostly code words for "hack." The use of two or more of them in one job description - say, "associate vice chancellor" - virtually guarantees that you are talking about someone with a relative in . . . a district courthouse. Added benefit: These layabouts tend to be among the highest paid - check it out for yourself by going to thestate payroll databases on the Herald Web site.
No. 9: Henceforward, no more defined-benefit pensions. Obviously, you can't renege on commitments already made to people who've paid in, but you can freeze all future contributions and move them to 401(k)s, just the way it's been done to millions of workers in the Dreaded Private Sector. Public employees used to get good pensions because they weren't paid as much as they theoretically could have made in the DPS. Now they make more money - a lot more, in most cases. They don't have to worry nearly as much about losing their jobs, they get three times as many sick days, plus extra holidays . . . and behind all that comes the pension.
No. 10: So much waste, fraud and abuse, so little space. Make the state employees pay more of their health-care costs, and any city or town that won't crack down on "fixed costs" should be penalized with corresponding cuts in local aid. Abolish all quasi-public authorities - it's too easy for hacks to hide in them, undetected, like foot fungus. Don't allow any municipality to impose any local-option taxes (such as a 7 percent meals tax) unless the local electorate has OK'd a Prop 2 override. If Boston needs so much dough, how come Mumbles never goes to the voters seeking their OK for an increase in the property tax?
And finally, elected officials have to start reading what they vote on or sign off on. How pathetic is it that city officials in Malden and Lynn claim they had no idea they were handing out fat pensions to undeserving hacks - and we all have such a low opinion of their intelligence that we believe they were that stupid?
The problem is, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. Nothing happens until the taxpayers wake up, start taking names and kicking butt. Don't hold your breath.

Howie Carr solves this mess - BostonHerald.com


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## trueblue (Jan 21, 2008)

He just can't wait til the Globe is gone and he has no other competition. Howie Carr....Radio Hall of Shame!!!!


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## BRION24 (Sep 19, 2008)

Howie Carr is a* DOUCHEBAG* with a Capital *D.*


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

While I'm no fan of his, he does make a couple of good points. The economy of this state will never turn around if the politicians don't eliminate wasteful spending. We need totreamline government agencies & eliminate patronage positions. We don't need 12 chiefs for every 3 indians. We need to hold our elected officials responsible for their voting record. If you can't be bothered to read the documents & know what you're voting for; then, you have no business representing me. We need to encourage more republican cadidates to run against democratic incumbents. I can't tell you how many blank ballots I have cast because I don't like the incumbant & have no one else to vote for. And, we need to convince the sheeple that they are ultimately the people responsible for turning things around. But, this will be the toughest change. The majority of voters just don't care. They don't want to think for themselves or question what they are being told. 

However, he is completely off base if he thinks penalizing hard working state employees is going to change things. The media and politicians can attack the Quinn Bill all day long. But at the end of the day, no one will have mentioned that in most occupations a person holding a degree is going to demand a higher salary than someone who doesn't. It's interesting that when these reporters & politicians can't come up with a legititmate argument against the Quinn Bill they resort to outright lying. I heard one of these idiots on Fox25 the other day question why a police officer should get a bonus for having a degree in Aztec basket weaving or something equally foolish. God forbid they speak the truth on the topic because then maybe the people would realize that not just anyone can be a police officer. You would think that the statistics of how many people take the tests compared to how many people get on the job would tell them that. Hmm, now that I think of it I don't have a journalism degree and aparently any idiot can do that job. So, I think it's time to send off my resume with a cover letter explaining that I can do the same job for half the money.


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## rg1283 (Sep 14, 2005)

Certain Courthouses I can understand closing. Uxbridge is needed but its funny because in the early 90s when the County was going bankrupt the courthouse in Uxbridge was almost foreclosed on.

Closing some of the smaller courthouses out west and up north makes sense. However I am talking the small court houses. Almost all of them on Howies list are very active courthouses, Dudley as an example.

Imagine closing that one. Officers would have to travel farther and longer what a mess!

Quinn Bill idea:up_yours: Howie. How could that save any REAL money? Its not like it is a HUGE portion of the state budget (comparing Welfare spending, etc. and other pointless projects). Its just an excuse to complain. 

I agree the tolls have to go bye bye too much work to make too little money. 

Accountability in politics also, and Republicans taking over I agree with 100%. All though their are some good centrist democrats in MA. But more moonbat democrats then anything else.


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## Guest (Apr 26, 2009)

I wrote someone a $200 CMVI last night, and didn't feel the least bit bad about it.


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## HousingCop (May 14, 2004)

Delta784 said:


> I wrote someone a $200 CMVI last night, and didn't feel the least bit bad about it.


*Too bad his name wasn't Howard L. Carr. *


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

Delta784 said:


> I wrote someone a $200 CMVI last night, and didn't feel the least bit bad about it.


The amount of V's you've written lately you might actually finish your C-series books and move on to the M-series 

Seriously though, I see the Quinn going away before this is over. The schools which accepted the new (2003) Quinn standards in CJ are no joke with a significant academic workload comparable to any degree program in the state. They'll still knock it down somewhere to a lesser benefit such as a flat stipend for new hires.

I completely agree with the courthouses. Those are like the lost outposts for too many workers and not enough work. They opened a courthouse in Hadley (near Amherst) years ago to lighten the workload in Northampton, now there's one in Belchertown. I mean, come on, Belchertown? Orange, Winchendon, Clinton, Gardner, Uxbridge, Westboro, Natick, Marlboro...the list goes on and on.

I have an appeal coming up in East Brookfield DC from a ticket I wrote almost a year ago. What kind of backlog is there out in the Brookfields for an appeal to take a year? It's so slow there you'd think I could get a clerk mag and court officer right there on the road to administer an appeal.


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## LGriffin (Apr 2, 2009)

> No. 5: Begin ending entitlements. Take the Quinn Bill - please. Does anyone, even cops, seriously argue that a B.A. these days means anything other than BS? Yet these cops' phony-baloney degrees are costing the taxpayers $50 million a year. A leadership effort in the House to rein them in has already failed, even before the budget comes to the floor. The solons are more fearful of the unions than they are of the taxpayers, and as long as they are running unopposed (see No. 4) why shouldn't they be?


Some people just can't see the forest for the trees. Unfortunately, this fool has a talk show with a large following...

We all know that educated officers save the Commonwealth far more than what is spent on the Quinn Bill and educational incentives but the media will never put this out. Quite frankly, I would prefer to see studies conducted on this fact rather than biased racial profiling studies any day, but it will never happen. Generally, in the civilian world, the higher the degree, the better the compensation. Why would this formula not apply to us?!! They say that they don't want us to be brutalizing billy clubbing monsters anymore so they must back it up. They say they want us to solve cases and put people away, therefore we must attain higher education degrees and they must pay! There should be no double standard as there is no more important profession than ours when lives and safety are at stake.

Society is evolving we need to be everything to everyone at all times from social workers to man hunters to baby sitters all in one shift. Civilians, even the really ignorant ones, can tell the difference between an educated officer and one who is not, and they will usually give respect to the former long before the latter. The former has command presence, which is a major part of this job, and it cannot be maintained regardless of the mirrored shine on your boots when you're standing there making no sense and saying "Uh, duh, you do what I say because I said so, uh." Command presence is a total package obtained through self esteem and the accomplishment. We know that this necessary control technique both prevents lawsuits and saves lives. Most importantly, it saves OUR lives so we can do God's work and increase the odds of going home to our families. You may recall studies conducted about why cop killers chose their prey and ultimately a lack of presence was the number one reason.

As you can tell, I am a huge supporter of Education incentives and The Quinn Bill as it is the very least that society can do to reward our efforts in a world fraught with moral decay. I have a Bachelors Degree and was completing my Masters when I left the job to start a family. I know many can, but I didn't want to do either less than 110% and fortunately, my husband in the big blue pants made enough for our family. In any event, being a petite size 2, all muscle of course ;-), I was routinely underestimated stepping out of the cruiser until I opened my mouth on scene and command presence did the rest. I worked all shifts but settled in on the busy 3-11, my favorite, and had the top or second best (alternating with my arch nemesis) arrests on my department. While I had street smarts and determination, I credit my success to the benefits of higher education because the brain is a beautiful and necessary tool in an increasingly liberal world.

Please forgive the rant.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

When I can go into a court house and my case gets heard within an hour, then I support the closing of some court houses. Until then howie go fuck yourself. Kevin Weeks should have done what he was suppose to that day.


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## TRPDiesel (Nov 28, 2008)

I could give a rat's ass if removing the Quinn Bill benefits saves the tax payers any amount of money. Many of us bust our humps to make a living for a family and pay a boat load in taxes, So when these retards say "I pay your salary"- I would be more than happy to pony up and see who paid more into the welfare pool. It doesn't matter to me my salary is public record any how.
To get to the point, My life everyday is placed in the hands of those that I work with. My family relies on the men and women in uniform to back me up, keep me safe, and render what ever aid is necessary if I happen to meet my match or god forbid, be off my game at any given moment. Not too mention that if my friends or family require the assistance of a fellow police officer I want those people to be knowledgeable and above all else competent to perform the task necessary to aid them in whatever emergency they are facing. 
I am by no means saying that college degrees always equal a better police officer, as we encounter the dumbest smart people on a daily basis. But it does give the Law enforcement the "incentive" to continue to learn. That in it self is worth every penny that these foolish sucks complain about and fight us tooth and nail over. If that 25% puts a quality person in a uniform to protect and serve as opposed to them taking a cushy office job to make ends meet, then where is the intelligent gripe.


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