Letter to the Massachusetts State Senators and Representatives

April 2, 2003

Dear Massachusetts Senators and Representatives:

It's getting much more difficult these days to pick up a Boston paper and not see some mention of the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank started in 1987. In fact, it seems to be the only think tank to have captured the interest and acceptance of Governors Weld, Cellucci, Swift, and now Romney, and has had a marked influence on public policy and electoral decisions for the past twelve years. One cannot help but wonder where the "other" think tanks are - the ones with opposing views.

To date, the creation of charter schools, the bumping of special-ed and bi-lingual education, the move for the privatization of schools, hospitals and other previously state managed institutions, the move to "clean house" in the judicial system, the rejection of another convention center, the calling for a repeal of the Pacheco Act of l993, and now, the most recent end run, housing, as conceived by the newly instituted Rappaport/Harvard /Pioneer research group. Rappaport, you may remember, is the family name associated with the development of the West End urban renewal in the mid fifties, reported at that point to be the worst example of urban renewal in the United States. At that time, thousands were displaced and only a handful of them ever returned to their old neighborhood.

The highly effective work of the growing conservative think tank establishment, as the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy calls it, is apparent in daily doses of think tank persuasion and lobbying efforts. Last year alone, more than fifty columns, articles and editorials appeared in the Boston Herald, touting the message of the Pioneer Institute. The rise of conservative think tanks coincides with conservative thinking in public policy in virtually every state in the nation. Too, there has been a steady move from think tanks to public policy jobs in the Commonwealth that ultimately has resulted in radical social change in most human services.

There does not appear to be much of a level playing field in all of this think tanking, as very little has been heard from progressive think tanks on a federal or state level. This accounts for the huge disparity in thinking about government, in general.

Pioneer's board members, staff and allies have all held powerful positions in the Weld/Celucci/Swift and now Romney administrations. Cui buono? Who benefits? And who sets the terms of the debate? In Massachusetts, more and more, the Pioneer Institute is framing the discussions around public policy, with privatization as one of the ultimate goals. Once charter schools legislation was passed, the state board of education, dominated by Pioneer allies, had broad discretion over who was to implement it, how many, and which charters to grant. There are some 25 charter schools now, with more to come. This offers a major threat to public school education. Seeming to favor large schools, many of which are run by the same few for profit companies, Pioneer allies, in their administrative role, could, and did, make decisions that had an enormous effect on the fortunes of the future employers or ventures, according to Political Research associates, a think tank based in Somerville. No charter schools, incidentally, offer vocational or bi-lingual education. (See the attached report, Privatizing The Common Wealth.)

But charter schools are merely the tip of the iceberg. Pioneer is invested in restructuring the entire state government which would have an enormous effect on education, human services and public policy in the Commonwealth.

How did all this happen anyway? The Heritage Institute first approached Ronald Reagan on the eve of his inauguration, and only ten days into office Reagan put the freeze on more than 170 pending regulations. By mid-decade, it was clear that deregulation and privatization were having significant impact. Deregulation's contribution to reckless financial speculation, marginal airline practices, bank failures, truck highway accidents, and, of course, corporate sacrifice of long-term goals to deal with raiders, was only the beginning…the extreme form of deregulation consisted of a wave of privatizations. Services that had formerly been provided by public employees were turned over to private businesses, much as is currently happening in Massachusetts almost twenty five years later. Wage cutting, layoffs, union busting - all come down to a revival of our periodic romance with the doctrine of laissez-faire, a cornerstone, incidentally of the Weld administration.

All of this was happening in the 80's while we advocates were trying to hold things together, and not being all that successful at it, I might add. In 1989, my colleague, Fran Froehlich, and I were fellows at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe. At that same time, conservative think tanks were building a vision for recreating government through deregulation, privatization and under-investment in public policy. Their mission was based on a belief in less government.

Progressive minds, meanwhile, were focused on the issues rather than the vision. What I have said many times is, "We created an ethic to meet the new and desperate need, rather than acknowledge the need for a completely different ethic," - one that would preclude the need for more shelters and soup kitchens. We continued to settle for smaller pieces of the pie, rather than demanding a seat at the table alongside those who were framing the issues. And now it seems, we have come full circle. And there is no debate. There is only a continued swing to the right, with an array of conservative think tanks paving the way for more restrictive help for an increasing percentage of ailing citizens.

As a long-time advocate of human services, founder of Rosie's Place and the Boston Food Bank and founder and co-director of the Poor People's United Fund, I congratulate those of you who continue to protect our most vulnerable citizens and I urge you to continue to act out of conscience as our elected protectors of the Commonwealth.

Best Regards,

Kip Tiernan
Founding Member
Ethical Policy Project