Word: governors
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Although his own state budget reflected a 4% increase, the new Governor imposed a spending ceiling on every municipality in the state as a step toward meeting his campaign promise of a $500 million reduction in property taxes. Mayors and other local officials protested so loudly that King retreated a bit, agreeing that if two-thirds of a community's voters approved higher spending, its cap would be lifted. Still, most Massachusetts politicians regard the effort as hamhanded, taking no account of growth or inflation. Says a state senator: "Things are more professional on the Quincy city council...
...Governor himself works 13-hour days and also weekends, seemingly oblivious to the normal practices of Alabama politics. He had to be persuaded by aides to pose for his official photograph, and he even canceled a state-paid obituary clipping service, which enabled Wallace to send letters of condolence to the bereaved. James ambles around the statehouse in torn shirts and scuffed shoes. He shows a surprising lack of interest in publicity; last week he neglected to alert most of the statehouse press corps when he made a surprise visit to two prisons and chatted with inmates. Said the blunt...
Some legislators warn, however, that the somewhat naive Fob James style may get the Governor in trouble after the legislature convenes this month. Many of his proposals face tough opposition, including a request to raise the gasoline tax to pay for highway repairs. Notes one legislative insider: "He hasn't learned to play by the rules, and in some cases he doesn't care...
...Arkansas Governor William Clinton has proposed an increase of 14% for teachers, contending that the raise is completely justified because teacher salaries in his state (current average: $11,146) are among the very lowest in the nation. Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards says that he will seek a 10% increase for all state employees...
Their roots are romantic enough. The Cajuns' Acadian (Nova Scotian) ancestors founded a colony on Canada's Bay of Fundy in 1604, and by 1755 had transformed the wilderness into a bucolic countryside. Then came a scheming English Governor who hated the French. In an act of genocide that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow later made a cause célèbre with his poem Evangeline, the British jammed thousands of Acadians onto prison ships and scattered them throughout the Old and New Worlds...