State and Suffolk County employees enjoyed another St. Patrick's Day off, with pay, yesterday, thanks to the gullible Massachusetts taxpayer.
It's officially known as Evacuation Day, marking the date British troops departed Boston at the start of the Revolutionary War. But only a fool believes it's mere coincidence the date also happens to be St. Patrick's Day, once a high holiday for Bay State politicians.
The celebrations are more subdued these days but, nevertheless, St. Patrick's Day and Bunker Hill Day, June 17, remain paid days off for a few, not including your average citizen.
Republican legislators planned to work Wednesday, holding a caucus at the Statehouse to discuss budget issues. The move is symbolic, of course, as would be elimination of the holidays whose estimated $5 million cost is hardly enough to turn the state's gaping budget deficit into a surplus.
But elimination of the so-called "hack holidays" would send an important message both to those on the public payroll and taxpayers that things have to change in the commonwealth.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker gets it, having included elimination of the holidays in his "10 common-sense reforms for better government" released this week.
According to Baker, he and his running mate, state Sen. Richard Tisei of Wakefield, "are committed to changing the culture of excess and abundance" via "reforms (that) will force government to give up its perks and preferential treatment and bring Beacon Hill in line with the rest of the commonwealth."
State government is hardly alone in handing out questionable holidays. Towns and cities also allow them to sneak into employee contracts, well below the radar screen of taxpayers. For instance, Amesbury's office workers union gets the Friday after Thanksgiving off as a holiday and enjoys the benefit of having birthdays treated as a "floating holiday." These kinds of perks go well beyond the standard practice of giving employees commonly accepted holidays off with pay.
Despite the brief scare provided by Republican Scott Brown's upset win in January's U.S. Senate race, it's back to business as usual at the Statehouse. Prior to departing Boston for the holiday, the Democratic leadership consigned a bill eliminating the Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day holidays to "study," effectively killing it for this session, though Republicans plan to bring the matter up again this spring as an amendment to the budget.
It appears heads must roll before the majority party is ready to concede voters really are fed up with the status quo.
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