Save The Governor's Council

In yesterday's edition of The Lowell Sun is an article by reporter Chris Camire on eliminating the Commonwealth's Governor's Council.♠  Eliminate the Governor's Council, our own version of the Privy Council e.g., the United Kingdom Privy Council?  This idea needs some serious thought.

Elimination of the Governor's Council is being introduced by State Senator Jamie Eldridge.  From his comments quoted in The Sun I am thinking he has not really thought through this idea.  He pegs it as a 1628 idea, but it is an idea, again like the Privy Council, which has evolved over time.

Given that today we have a Legislature DOMINATED by the Democratic Party, the Governor is more like the figurehead that is the Queen of England, where the Privy Council still plays a constitutional role.  I like the idea that there is a Governor's Council as a check on an otherwise all dominant Legislature's ability to do as it jolly well pleases.

While this photo, sent to me by one of my Brothers (today), is not the General Court (it is Connecticut), it could be our General Court.  We don't need to be giving them any more power.

And, the "saving money" suggestion doesn't pass the sniff test.  The eight members of Governor's council make $26,025 each per annum.  So, $26,025 times eight comes out to be $208,200.  The suggestion that $400,000 could be saved must count on printing costs and travel and per diem.  Is that 48% overhead a figure we should be applying to the Representatives and Senators down on Beacon Hill?  And, if the work is transferred, does anyone think that it will not generate jobs for close friends and family of favored legislators?

I have tried to avoid the use of the word "bogus" but I think it applies in this case.

Regards  —  Cliff

PS:  Would not our member of the Governor's Council (District 3) be:
Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney
98 Westminster Avenue
Watertown, MA 02472
GC: (617)725-4015 ext. 3
Res: (617)923-0778
Fax: (617)727-6610
Email: marilyn.p.devaney@gov.state.ma.us

♠  Remember, articles in The Sun go away after a while, to a different place.  I will not be updating their links unless I am bedridden and have read every book in the house.