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The Real HEFA Mess
The Real HEFA Mess
"The arrogance of this administration is boundless. And the Walsh appointment - well, it was just small change."
- Editorial, The Boston Herald, 4/2/09
The real HEFA mess
The Boston Herald, 4/2/09
Editorial
Now that Sen. Marian Walsh will once again be devoting her energies to serving the people of her district (unless they come to their senses some November and toss her out), we can focus on the real issue raised by her aborted appointment to HEFA (the Health and Educational Facilities Authority).
There is a larger money grab at stake here - far larger than the $175,000 salary Walsh won't be getting.
In a burst of rare candor - at least for this gang - the governor's chief of staff Doug Rubin talked about that agenda on BlueMass Group, a blog fancied by liberal Democrats. Rubin offered a spirited defense of Gov. Deval Patrick's plan to merge HEFA with MassDevelopment, which also provides subsidized loans to similar institutions.
Here is the key phrase in Rubin's commentary:
"The merger of MDFA and HEFA will allow us to more effectively leverage their expertise and resources [emphasis ours] in a coordinated effort to support our broader economic recovery initiative."
That's Rubin-speak for the fact that the two agencies, once merged, will have the power to collect larger fees from the nonprofits they serve and "we will be able to make important investments with these additional revenues."
Ah, yes, investments - like maybe more six-figure jobs for political hacks!
HEFA has already turned over $2 million to the state for a health care grant program, according to board chairman Allen Larson. No doubt a worthy cause, but it amounts to taking from nonprofit public entities to give to other causes the Patrick administration deems worthy.
Rubin figures the merger will squeeze about $6 million more a year out of those same nonprofits (by eliminating the competition between HEFA and MassDevelopment).
Answering Rubin on the blog was Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who wrote that the competition between the two agencies has caused both "to sharpen their pencils and otherwise consider the interests of their nonprofit clients. Why would we want to eliminate healthy competition like that?"
Why indeed!
Furthermore, Levy notes, "I do not recall that the hospitals, colleges and cultural institutions have been asked about this proposed reorganization."
Well, when guys like Rubin know they've right, why ask? Why have a health debate?
The arrogance of this administration is boundless. And the Walsh appointment - well, it was just small change.
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