Pawlenty: Don’t follow Mass. lead

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican presidential contender in 2012, said universal health care in Massachusetts is no model the nation should follow.

“The plan is dramatically propped up by federal money,” he said. “Take that away and there would be dire economic consequences.

“Looking at the Massachusetts experience, it would not be one I would want for the country to follow any further.’’

Now that Congress passed the health care reform law, the Massachusetts health experience could become even more a critical bellwether for Mitt Romney’s second run for president, in 2012.

During an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Pawlenty didn’t mention Romney by name, but he relayed how Massachusetts state Treasurer Tim Cahill warned that a national version of the Massachusets law could bankrupt the country in four years.

Cahill is running as an independent for governor.

Romney will return to the state April 8 for a book tour that will include a visit to the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester.

Pawlenty lamented there were plenty of what he called “bipartisan areas of agreement’’ on health care far short of the national reform, including a new payment system, built-in incentives for healthy outcome, offering insurance across state lines and tort reform. He asked his state attorney general to join the 13 states suing the Obama administration over the law.

“We now have the federal government reaching so far inside our society, dictating whether human behavior is good or not,” Pawlenty said. “That is a quantum leap, and it should be alarming to people.”

Most historians now conclude former President Bill Clinton moved to the political center and ensured his solid re-election after his failure to achieve national health care.

Now that Obama has it, Pawlenty said there are all indications Obama will continue to play to his liberal base.

“He’s given no indication at all of moving to the center at all,” Pawlenty said. “You’ve got big government, big business and big unions taking care of each other, all to the detriment of the average person.”

Gambling on the ‘V word’

It’s all on you, Governor.

Maybe this is what he wanted all along, but the ever cautious, three-term Democrat now sits in the driver’s seat when it comes to dealing with the massive state budget deficit.

Getting to this destination, however, proved to be a very bumpy ride. Gov. John Lynch now has some Democratic leaders in both legislative branches privately unhappy with him.

Senate supporters of expanded gambling were miffed to watch Lynch come out and oppose a slot machine and casino-style legalization bill minutes after they had gotten it through the Senate. They liken it to Lynch’s vow in the spring of 2009 to veto a gas tax that came moments after the House of Representatives had approved a three-year, 15 cent hike.

House budget conferees objected, gaming was disengaged and that’s when lawmakers turned to the LLC tax, campground tax and others – and you well know the ugly details from there.

Then there are House budget writers who thought Lynch’s Hamlet act about gambling waiting until after the fact moved the Senate to reject a small package of cuts while they had unanimously endorsed cuts seven times larger.

“We were left holding a bad bag, and senators got to preen for the camera and for those who rely on Human Service spending that we felt had to be part of the cuts,’’ one House leader said. “If the governor had used the ‘V (veto) word’ about gambling, that bill never gets out of the Senate and we could be getting down to business.’’

Keep in mind, this wasn’t as easy a task as it appeared on the surface. You may recall Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro couldn’t get a stand-alone gaming bill through the Senate last year and had to attach it to the two-year state budget.

At one point Wednesday, Lynch told one senator he believed the issue would deadlock 12-12. Later in the afternoon and prior to the Senate vote, Lynch told another source it would pass 13-11.

The 14-10 Senate passage is hardly a groundswell, but it wouldn’t have happened without the backing of Keene Democrat Molly Kelly and Senate Republican Leader Peter Bragdon, of Milford. Those were the pivotal votes for gambling advocates to turn, and they did.

Taxing projections

How big will the budget deficit be?

Well, the $140 million estimate Lynch offered six week ago assumes we fall $65 million short in revenue.

Through February, we were $50 million short of the forecast.

With less than a week left in this pivotal month, the news isn’t great, but it could have been much worse. All taxes and fees through Thursday were $20 million shy of the $594 million estimate.

March is a quarterly month for business taxes, and those are $10 million short with a few days left.

The final numbers will be better than that, as liquor revenues were short close to $2 million, but they always get a boost from the final weekend. The same is true from state lottery sales, which were more than $2 million below the target.

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