By Craig Sandler 
State House News Service

December 13, 1999--A month after a rash of Republican votes on budget overrides put GOP legislators at odds with their governor and sparked questions about what the party stands for, legislative leaders insist they would take the same votes today. 

A look back shows the magnitude of Republican disagreement with Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci on his budget overrides: 30 of the Senate’s 74 veto votes were unanimous, meaning Republicans, when given the opportunity, voted in a block against their governor 41 percent of the time.  GOP lawmakers voted unanimously to replace about half of the $250 million Cellucci vetoed. 

A look forward raises an important question: will the GOP be as divided against itself this spring and summer, when historic decisions must be made about how much to spend in the next round of education reform? 

And still remaining are basic questions: when Republicans put the interests of their districts first and overrode vetoes like $94 million in education funding, were the interests of their districts at odds with Republican philosophy or with Cellucci philosophy? And should observers conclude that Republican policy, when the interests of the district are at stake, is to vote Democratic?  If Paul Cellucci were still in the Senate, would those override votes still have been unanimous? 

Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees (R-E. Longmeadow) didn’t take the bait. “That’s not something I can presume to say for Paul Cellucci or Jane Swift,” he said, referring to the lieutenant governor, who like Cellucci is a former state senator. 

But he did note a senator’s agenda and constituency is different than that of a governor.  “The fact of the matter is, everybody has priorities,” Lees said.  For the governor, it’s the overall size of the budget:  “I believe Paul and Jane try to keep fiscal discipline the most important thing they do” 

But for each senator, Lees said, the number one priority is what the district needs – and on the education funding, that was each district’s share of an additional $94 million Cellucci vetoed. 

“The governor represents the whole state, but for elected (legislative) officials, they’re looking out for the needs of their district,” Lees said.  “Still, I do believe we’re the fiscal watchdog, and I don’t think we’ve had a better night in years than we had in the Senate that night. Republicans still cut the budget.” 

House Minority Leader Francis Marini of Hanson pointed out that besides the $94 million, Republicans in the House voted in a solid bloc against only about $19 million of the governor's vetoes.  "That’s a lot of money in terms of the experience of most people, but in terms of the state budget it’s not that much,” Marini said. 

“Is $19 million out of $20 billion a huge disagreement between the Republicans in the House and the governor?  I would say not,” the leader said.  “In addition to being Republicans, we’re in different branches of government.  The whole system is designed be a system of checks and balances.” 

The existence of the conflict makes it hard to determine what the Republican position is on education funding, going into a period when decision making on the topic is entering a major new time of uncertainty. This is the final year of the $1.7 billion state commitment to new money under the 1993 Education Reform Act.  The question is, is the Legislature’s position or the governor’s less-generous approach the Republican way of addressing education finance? 

John Brockleman, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, went with Cellucci.  While making clear, “There isn’t a specific position for the party on this one,” Brockleman did add, “In the post ed-reform era, Republicans are going to want to focus on the accountability of school districts and administrators over big increases in spending.” 

Like Lees and Marini, Brockleman said Republican unanimity against the governor on 40 percent of his vetoes isn’t politically significant.  “There was a disagreement and that’s democracy,” Brockleman said. “I think that the governor as well as the Republicans in the Legislature have a long track record of supporting education.” 

Cellucci’s budget is due Jan. 26.  Decisions about how much new money districts get may be quantified in a formula being renegotiated at several levels: in the Legislature, at the Education Department and within the governor’s office.  The complex formula factors in elements such as community per-capita income, population growth and other demographics, and sets the amount each city and town should receive.  There’s agreement the formula needs to be reworked. 

After the Legislature examines the governor’s budget, passes its own version and sends it to Cellucci, the GOP will be in the same position it was last month. 

The governor will have to mull his role as disciplinarian, and the lawmakers – most of whom will be in the middle of re-election campaigns in 2000 – will be inclined towards generosity. 

Lees said the strength of future disagreements between the Executive Branch and GOP legislators on education funding will be determined by what the governor proposes as the right spending level for Ed Reform 

The future of the intra-party debate is unclear, but one thing's sure: Democrats will try to exploit the division.  Certainly Randi Woods, spokeswoman for the Democratic State Committee, has her sights trained and a full load of ammunition ready.  She gave a preview of 2000. 

“It’s going to happen in every major funding issue that comes up,” Woods said. “You can say you’re fiscally conservative, but when you’re trying to slice programs that need the funding – you can’t be the education governor when you’re cutting funding to make sure kids that are left behind now don’t get left behind more.  And the legislators know that.  They don’t have a good figurehead to look up to. 

"It was really interesting to watch, because if that sort of thing went on in Washington people like (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay would be twisting their arms behind their backs quicker than you can say ‘Republican National Committee,’ Woods said.  “A lot of the legislators don’t have the same faith in Paul Cellucci, they just don’t have that same kind of leadership sense from him.  A lot of them feel they can’t trust his policy judgement.  He says it’s fiscal conservatism but it’s just bad public policy.  They know that, and that was evident the other night.” 
 

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