Memo to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
If you wish to beat fellow Republican Donald Trump in New Hampshire, come to Massachusetts.
Once right here you possibly can marketing campaign on promising, if elected president, to construct two new Cape Cod Bridges to switch the functionally out of date Bourne and Sagamore, which is one thing Massachusetts politicians have did not do.
If you achieve this, the progressive Democrats on Martha’s Vineyard may even thanks for it and throw you an all is forgiven fundraiser.
Even the 50 unlawful immigrants, principally Venezuelans, that you just flew into toney Martha’s Vineyard from Texas final yr may, out of gratitude, attend. After all, they’re doing so nicely in Massachusetts that none of them have plans to return residence.
Perhaps even Barack Obama and John Kerry, who each have houses on MV, will silently be grateful, despite the fact that neither use the bridges, however fly out and in, not like their assist.
A Martha’s Vineyard fundraiser would present you’re no stranger to the Cape or the Islands because you held a $5,000 a head fundraiser on neighboring Nantucket in August 2022.
Also, you could possibly brag about constructing or rebuilding bridges in Florida following the devastation within the wake of Hurricane Ian. You, for example, accomplished constructing of destroyed barrier island bridges in a matter of days, not years.
New Hampshire voters, a lot of whom depend on the Boston media, will take discover, as will thousands and thousands of voters from throughout the nation who trip on the Cape and the Islands.
Besides the 260,000 residents of the Cape and the islands who depend on the bridges as important connections to the mainland, some 5 million vacationers come to the Cape yearly. Collectively some 35 million autos cross the 2 bridges yearly.
The bridges, owned and operated by the federal authorities, have been constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 88 years in the past. They have been designed to final for 50 years. The engineers known as the bridges “functionally obsolete” 15 years in the past.
It is estimated to price some $4 billion to switch the bridges which, after development, can be turned over to the state. However, the Massachusetts delegation to Congress, all Democrats, has repeatedly did not win any of the $4 billion it could price to switch the bridges.
Outside of writing letters that find yourself in wastebaskets, Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren have been a complete bust in terms of securing the mandatory federal funds even when the state comes up with half the cash.
That epic failure additionally illustrates the ineffectiveness of Cape Cod U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, together with the remainder of the state’s delegation to Congress. This contains Rep. Ritchie Neal of Springfield, the rating Democrat (and former chairman) of the House Ways and Means committee.
So, Gov. DeSantis, you don’t have anything to lose coming to Massachusetts.
And had you come earlier you could possibly have additionally visited Romolo Del Deo, the ageing artist the National Park Service kicked out of his shack within the sand dunes outdoors of Provincetown Thursday. He had lived there for 77 years. At age 94, Del Deo is older than the bridges and was round to look at them being constructed.
The Park Service needed him out of the federally owned land. It maintains he had no proper to be dwelling there upon the loss of life of the unique proprietor of the shack who enabled his occupancy. A 90-day extension of the order to vacate expired final week.
As within the case of the bridges, letter writers Markey, Warren and Keating — as an alternative of exhibiting up on the shack — wrote to the National Park Service, urging it to permit Del Deo extra time, in addition to an opportunity to use for an software to stay on the property.
The letter little question ended up in the identical wastebasket.
Any political chief of substance would have personally visited Del Deo in his shack early on and have introduced the wanted consideration to the federal authorities evicting a 94-year-old man kind the one residence he has identified for 77 years.
And these are the politicians who’re going to get us two new bridges once they can’t even save a single shack. Yeah. Right.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”