The "Wiz": In favor of raising tolls
before he was against raising them.
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On the front page of today’s NH Union Leader, it is being reported that one of the Republicans on the Governor’s Executive Council has joined the rest of us and is now
Angry with himself
over the vote he made last week to help implement the Great Republican Toll Hike of 2007. Tom Fahey, the State House Bureau Chief writes
Executive Councilor Raymond Wieczorek wants to take another look at the turnpike toll hikes he helped vote into place.
This is, of course, good news indeed. The unfortunate part is that had he and his fellow Republican on the Council, Ray Burton, done what they should have and joined Democrat Deb Pignatelli in saying "NO", he wouldn’t be with the rest of us today in being angry with him(self). According to Fahey, Wieczorek said
"I thought about it, and then said, ‘What the heck am I doing in voting for something like this, when I give them $8 million more than they asked for?’ I’ve got a problem with it."
So what caused him to suddenly see the light? According to the UL,
Wieczorek said he was not under any political pressure to change his vote. "I hardly had any phone calls here at all, he said. "I’m just angry with myself."
Me too, Ray. And as far as phone calls go, has anybody ever tried to contact an Executive Councilor to lobby against something? I did. As I recounted in this previous post on October 1st:
A call to the state office revealed nothing, other than being refered to what is supposedly his home office. The somewhat rude person that answered that phone told me Mr. Wieczorek was unavailable all day, and beyond that, said she couldn’t answer how he was voting on the toll hikes. When I pointed out that it was a simple yes or no answer, she responded that "it’s more complex than that." I’m going to assume that this is code for, "He’s gonna vote yes." After convincing the phone answerer that I was worthy enough for her to get a writing implement with which to take a message for his Executiveness, she took my contact number and I await a return call. I have called the executive council state office again and requested a return call as well.
Bottom line: there isn’t much of a mechanism in place for these guys to TAKE phone calls, near as I can tell. It’s now the 10th, and I still haven’t received a return call. That’s why we have this Blog. While he may not say so, I’m sure he has been aware of the pounding we’ve been giving him here at the ‘Grok.
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No matter. The fact remains that he made the vote. While he regrets it now, it’s most likely too late to do anything about it. He should have applied conservative Republican principles when he cast his lot with the unaccountable spending advocates in the first place. Besides, does anybody think "Republican" Ray Burton will change his vote? I don’t.
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This is such an unfortunate situation, for two reasons…
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One, the travelling motorists, especially those living in the vicinity of the tolls, once again have to dig deeper in their wallets to pay for yet more fiscal mismanagement they had nothing to do with.
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The second is more partisan: Had the two Republicans stood up and boldy stated that they would not approve any further fleecing of the citizenry until they became absolutely convinced that the DOT and the turnpike people had unquestioningly squeezed every last dollar and added every element of efficiency that could be brought to bear, they would have struck a blow against bad government that most likely would have resounded state-wide, perhaps even nationally. Finally, Republicans making a real stand against waste and inefficiency! What a story that could have been. Perhaps it could have been the banner under which a Republican comeback here in the Granite State might have been staged. But alas, it wasn’t so. It’s too bad, really.
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I’ll bet money that a slew of "Republicans" in the legislature will now follow suit and support a gas tax increase that has been proposed, too. This is why the wags that have long been wont to call the Republicans the "Stupid Party" continue to be correct…
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Sorry Ray– I’m a results kind of guy. Buyers remorse after the fact just doesn’t cut it with me.