Monday, April 27, 2009
Get out the popcorn
If I didn't think this was actually very serious stuff, I would find all of this to be grand entertainement:
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other top lawmakers have been huddling this afternoon in meetings, trying to garner a veto-proof majority to vote on raising the state’s sales tax to 6.25 percent, according to House members.I expect to hear the sound of multiple shoulders popping with all the arms being twisted on Beacon Hill. ¶ 11:14 PM
They need 107 votes to overcome Governor Deval Patrick’s threat to veto a sales tax increase.
...
Patrick, who met at the State House over the weekend with DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray, sent a letter to the Legislature this afternoon that caught most lawmakers off guard. The letter could dissuade lawmakers from voting in favor of the increase, and could provide an embarrassment to DeLeo in his first major test as speaker.
The governor threatened to veto the sales tax in a letter sent to lawmakers at 12:31 p.m., just before they went to the House floor to debate the $27.4 billion budget.
