Word: franked
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...government in order to build a machine. During the height of the busing troubles, the mayor avoided aggravating tensions--unlike many city politicians--but he also took as few chances as possible in trying to allay the city's fears. White would seem to be an excellent target for Frank's brutally candid quips, but the representative has remained sympathetic to his former benefactor. Frank voted against White's charter reform package, an issue crucial to the mayor (and if you believed White, to the city too), but they still maintain their mutually beneficial relationship...
Another of Frank's mutually beneficial accommodations is his relationship with McGee. Critics of the speaker claim his rule is about as democratic as that of Indira Gandhi (although he will never be threatened by democratic elections), but Frank disagrees. It is "not dictatorship from above, it's regimentation wanted from below. Most members do not have strong views on public policy". he says. McGee is generally open-minded about social issues, although he is a conservative with close ties to the airlines, liquor and racing interests and power companies, and Frank seems to be aware of the benefits...
...want to be effective you have to back the leadership on partisan votes except on those matters where he has clearly staked out a position." When liberals unsuccessfully tried to make membership on the House Rules Committee subject to caucus vote instead of under McGee's discretion, Frank voted with the leadership. He indirectly supported Mitchell's statement when he said, "I sometimes wonder why I'm so submissive...
...close political ally with whom Frank did break is Dukakis himself, who offered to make him secretary of transportation in 1974. Frank claims that the far-reaching social programs started under Francis W. Sargent, Dukakis's predecessor, were approved with the understanding that taxes would be raised in 1975 to pay fog them. Campaigning with the slogan of "No new taxes," Dukakis delayed a tax increase for 11 months in 1975, despite a $700 million deficit. The governor slashed human services to balance the budget, and has run a pro-business, austerity-minded administration. Frank notes, "Unlike White, Dukakis went...
...Frank "feels very strongly about human services and that overshadows other issues," Hank O'Donnell, the head of Dukakis's legislative relations office, says. Frank's criticism of Dukakis on social issues tends to obscure his pro-administration votes in other areas. Both Dukakis and Frank supported the move to change the commissioners at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from a part- to a full-time basis, and Frank cast a crucial vote last year to sustain the administration's veto of the hospitals' certificate of needs bill. He enthusiastically supports the Cox Plan, Dukakis's court reform package...