Every tax is a pay cut.  Every tax cut is a pay raise. Citizens for Limited Taxation

George P. King, Jr. exhibits no empathy whatsoever for the Framingham taxpayer.  He really seems more concerned about the welfare of the town government of which he is the manager of.  After the override vote squeaked by, he actually felt a sense of jubilation that he had suceeded at increasing our taxes.  I personally recommend that we force him to find another day job in a couple of years if not sooner. I attended a selectmen's meeting on 08/22/2002 where the topic was cutting costs.  One could tell from the selection of costs that George P. King, Jr. was absolutely adamant about preserving each and every town employee and their extensive benefits.  You can sense that he would much prefer to request an override rather than having to deal with any layoffs.  He did not exhibit a shred of empathy to the Framingham taxpayer. By the way, in this meeting, I discovered that the town had to lay off two part time parking attendants.  Did they provide the valet service to all the town employees driving town cars home? I also learned in this meeting that George P. King, Jr. is now stating for the record that he is laying off vacant positions.   This is a new and exciting concept in human resources (non-existent as they may be :-). The Town Manager's report in the 2001 Annual Report states that the upcoming budget crunch is a revenue problem, not an expense problem. I think George P. King, Jr. needs to see an exorcist. We do not have a revenue problem.  We have an expenditure problem in George P. King, Jr. George P. King, Jr. is yet another person who believes that he can tax us into prosperity. This is like standing in a bucket and lifting yourself up.  He is taxing us and creating prosperity in the town government. Here's another interesting quote by George P. King, Jr.: "It's a structural issue of municipal government finance.  Towns rely too heavily on property taxes.  I'd rather see higher income taxes and less property taxes.  But Proposition 2 1/2 is the only option we have." His very compentency as a town manager will be judged by the Framingham taxpayers in how he deals with the health insurance issue, given that all union contracts will be re-negotiated by June 30, 2003.  If the taxpayers are burdened with these out of control costs for another 3-5 years, he definitely needs to be replaced. The other bigger runaway cost is schools.  I'm not sure he has as much control on this one.

I asked Mr. King whether the town would go thru a selection process (as is the case for the school superintendent) to replace him in case of his departure or early demise.  He stated that this is the procedure for replacing the town manager ( despite the existence of Mark Purple, the assistant town manager).  Mr. King stated that this methodology allows the town to find the best candidate.  It's strange that Mr. King's only experience in town affairs was his previous job of being the town clerk.  I guess this means that if George leaves, Mark could be working for Valerie Mulroney, our current town clerk.  At least, she was a Selectman in a prior life.

There is enough for everyone's need, but never enough for one man's greed.            Mahatma Gandhi Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.            P.J. O'Rourke

Log entries
08/27/2003 I got a copy of the 1998 Financial Task Force Report and it it clearly shows that the best that George could do was an operational override.  It is a historic document representing his financial incompetence. 08/11/2003 George seems to have gotten himself into a pickle with an ethics complaint.

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