Must be an Election Year!

In case you didn’t know, it’s an election year! And you know how we can tell? Governor Patrick is suddenly taken an interest in…wait for it…governing!

Governor Patrick put out a pension reform bill today and while there are many solid ideas - ideas in fact we in the Republican caucus have offered many times before, we wish he had maybe acted on these proposals sooner. But hey, better late than never! What’s especially interesting is the fact that just last fall Charlie Baker laid out a comprehensive pension overhaul plan. Guess the Governor felt like it was time to step up his game!

This calculated political strategy is the most transparency we’ve seen from the administration since Governor Patrick assumed office in 2007. Here’s how this pension reform effort will play out:

1) Governor Patrick files legislation

2) Democratic-controlled Legislature rejects plan

3) Governor Patrick points finger at said Legislature for being scared of “change”

4) Governor Patrick runs as Beacon Hill outsider saying Legislature rejected his efforts to bring more “change” to people of Massachusetts

Now, here’s what wrong with this picture. Governor Patrick epitomizes what it is to be a Beacon Hill insider. The people of Massachusetts want change…in the corner office that is – just read the polls!

This is nothing more than a lackluster attempt in an election year to convince the electorate that he (Governor Patrick) has actually been governing all these years. This attempt, like his poor excuse for a State of the Commonwealth address, is nothing more than empty campaign rhetoric. What the people of Massachusetts want is a strong leader who is capable of delivering on his campaign promises, not an oratorical super star who makes promises he can’t keep.