Posted on 09/16/2008 10:02:20 AM PDT by suspects
Whatever you do, don’t ask Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney about getting rid of mandatory police details. She doesn’t want to talk about it.
In response to Gov. Deval Patrick’s modest reforms of this “Only in Massachusetts” boondoggle, unions are fighting back by taking the issue to the cities and towns. Which means Boston City Hall.
Councilor Sam Yoon supports at least studying the issue, but according to The Boston Globe-Democrat, there is “little appetite on the council or from Mayor Menino to change the arrangement.”
And according to Feeney’s spokesman, this profile in City Council courage is refusing to take any position whatsoever on the subject. Hey, it’s always possible that millions of tax dollars hiring police officers to guard potholes might be a good idea.
“I think we are a very pro-labor council,” Feeney says.
Oh, so that’s what we’re calling it now: “pro-labor.” I guess it sounds better than “anti-taxpayer” or “brown-nosing the union bosses.”
Keeping the current detail policy is a lot of things, but “pro-labor” isn’t one of them. Who does Feeney think is paying the estimated $100 million we spend in Massachusetts each year on police details? It’s Massachusetts working stiffs who pony up through their taxes, tolls and utility bills.
“If anything, this police detail program is anti-labor in the fullest sense of the word,” says David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute. “It’s anti-consumer and anti-worker, because a handful of ‘laborers’ benefit while the rest of the workers pay.”
And speaking of labor, has Feeney ever seen how cops on details actually spend their time? “Labor” isn’t the first phrase that springs to mind driving past a snoozing cop.
Sure, some police officers...
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Howie Carr has been railing on this for years; Massachusetts corrupt from the head down.
“I think we are a very pro-labor council,” Feeney says.
Unions … The fateful joining together of experts to ultimately propagate corruption.
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