Cat’s Out of the Bag: Former Mass. Secretary of Administration and Finance Baker Confirms That State Government Spending Really IS $51 Billion
Finally, a prominent Massachusetts politician goes on record exposing what we have long contended: the state budget is NOT a mere $28.2 billion as politicians routinely claim and as the mainstream media regularly reports.
It’s actually $51 billion ($51.8 billion, to be exact).
Charlie Baker, a 2010 Republican candidate for governor, who elected governor of Massachuetts in 2014, was Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governors Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci. He had as much access to all the gnarly details of Massachusetts state government spending as just about anyone.
Here’s what he said on WBZ Radio 1030AM with Dan Rea, host of NightSide, on February 15th:
Dan Rea: Let’s talk about the budget. I know that there is some question the budget has grown just a little bit. We’re going to have the governor in tomorrow night. What can we do? Clearly revenues are declining. A lot of people out of work. Budget now is about $28 billion, not all that is…
Charlie Baker: That’s the part that’s on budget anyway, Dan. If you add it all up, it’s probably more like $51 (billion) if you added everything. I mean there’s at least 3 or 4 billion that you’d have to count for school building assistance and pension payments and interest on the debt and then a whole series of other things that are all off-budget.
Dan Rea: So you then buy into the argument that Carla Howell was making a couple of years ago that the real budget is I think she was saying $47 (billion)?
Charlie Baker: Well the real budget is a really big number. And I do believe that, well let’s put it this way. I’ve been out of state government for over 10 years, but there are things that used to be on budget that are no longer on budget now that if someone were to say to me do those belong somewhere in the public view with regard to how the state thinks about the money it spends, my answer would be Yes
Thanks, Charlie, for exposing the truth about the $51 billion in state government spending.
How many other candidates and politicians will tell the truth about total state government spending?
Which media outlets will report the truth – and which ones will continue to perpetuate the “$28.2 billion” deception?
Be on the lookout!
And if anyone tries to tell you “the state budget is $28 billion,” please correct them and point out that total state spending is now almost $52 billion, not $28 billion.
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Auditor candidate Kamal Jain has been saying the budget is $51.8 billion for some time.
[…] P.S. If you have any question about whether total state spending is $51.8 billion, I presume you know you can verify this by consulting the Comptroller’s office, or their web site. You can link to it and see additional information about state spending courtesy of the Kamal Jain, Republican candidate for Auditor campaign. Or you can visit our web page here to see how Charlie Baker, Republican governor candidate and former Secretary of Administration and Fina…. […]
[…] $23 billion dollars out of $52 billion is spent from “off-budget” accounts. The opposition to Question 3 (not coincidentally, all groups with a vested interest in keeping state spending high) tries to claim that this money represents “transfers” – and is not actually spent. But that is false (and why they duck the question when challenged in debates). It is spent (listen to former Secretary of Finance Charlie Baker’s explanation here). […]