There’s nowhere for the state Republican party to go but up.
It’s glaring how one-sided the state Legislature has become — and that’s bad news for everyone no matter what party you register under. Some decisions, especially on taxes and expenditures, beg for balance.
How can that happen when the House has 132 Democrats, 25 Republicans and 1 unenrolled rep?
On the state Senate side, the 37-to-3 split is stark.
That’s why a special election for a seat expected to open up in June when state Sen. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) leaves the Legislature is so pivotal.
This is a perfect opportunity for newly elected MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale to push for a strong Republican candidate and back that person. The party needs to start small and get behind voters who are growing frustrated with Beacon Hill’s elitist attitude.
A recent report from the Pioneer Institute should alarm all of us who care deeply about Massachusetts. Learning that high-income residents have been fleeing the state for years should be enough to wake us all up.
Massachusetts is the fourth worst state in the country when it comes to out-migration, behind only California, New York and Illinois, the report told us. That nugget was based on IRS data, not some partisan hired gun. (Yes, the IRS is not the most trustworthy agency, but when it comes to this factoid it’s believable.)
Remote work and “other states cutting taxes” are to blame, Pioneer stated.
If a few lucky people can work from home anywhere they please, who can blame them if they opt for Las Vegas — if that’s your thing — or a hillside in Montana. The rest of us have to make it work right here in Massachusetts.
So we urge voters in Gobi’s district to send a message to the House and Senate. Elect a Republican — or at least an independent — who will block the bias that runs rampant under the dome.
Gobi is doing all she can saying a Democrat in her seat is a swell idea. You’d expect that from a member of the Legislature who votes in lockstep with the rest of the gang.
That’s not what this state, and her district, needs. There’s no guarantee the economy is going to suddenly brighten and turn the Bay State into a sea of shiny new electric cars we can all afford. Hiking taxes and blocking any rebates doesn’t need to be the go-to default here, too.
Soft on crime is not the path to success. Businesses need to feel as if they are welcome and Democrats don’t need to run in packs without anyone calling them out for their blind loyalty to the bosses.
It’s time for the MassGOP to do what it’s designed to accomplish — back a strong local candidate, hit the streets and fill up mailboxes and roll out retail politics and put logic back in the State House.
The city of Gardner, the city of Worcester, Ward 7 Precincts 2, 4, 5, 6, Ward 9 Precincts 3, and 4, and the towns of Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Hardwick, Holden, Hubbardston, Leicester, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Spencer, Sterling, Templeton, West Brookfield and Westminster and the town of Ware can show Boston change can start anywhere.