Showdown in Boston: National Governors Conference Amidst Police-led Protest

The 102nd Annual Meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA), taking place in Boston July 9-12, is set this year to be a showdown over Obama austerity, versus the mass-strike impetus for stopping the destruction of peoples' lives and government functions. The NGA agenda features how to make state budget cuts, especially in health care, capped off on Sunday morning by a formal session led by co-chairs Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform—created earlier this year by an Obama Executive Order, after Congress refused to authorize it, for the express purpose of dictating vast cuts in vital government programs.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Nazi governator, is also scheduled to give a speech on this, to the expected 40 governors in attendance. He is thus playing his role for the powers that hand-picked him for public office in 2003—the Jacob Rothschild crowd, of the Inter-Alpha international finance networks, seeking destruction in the United States.

Indicative of the public revolt against these maneuvers, the Boston police announced in advance that they would demonstrate against the Governors meeting, and its host, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), for these kinds of policies. Friday night, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association (BPPA) staged a 1,200-person demonstration at the Fenway Park governors' social event, to protest the cuts being imposed on the 1,600-person Boston police force, 17,000 police statewide, and other public workers across Massachusetts.

The head of the BPPA, Tommy Nee, is also a national leader. Nee is the current President of the National Association of Police Organizations. This group represents the interests of more than 240,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States, associated with 2,000 public security units; and also 11,000 retired policemen. Nee also serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Police are a leading contingent among the thousands of layoffs of government workers of all kinds, now being implemented nationwide. Last year, a total of 190,000 municipal, county, and state jobs were eliminated. The month of June, for example, saw the axing of 10,000 such government jobs. For the 2010/2011 fiscal year just started, estimates of job elimination range from 250,000 to 400,000 (from Moody's and other sources)—however, these are all merely linear projections. The reality is that the nation faces a financial blow-out and physical breakdown chaos in the short term, unless Obama is forced out of office, and Glass-Steagall-type emergency measures are launched in the short term.

Massachusetts itself is emblematic. On June 30, Gov. Patrick signed a $27.6 billion budget, just hours before the start of the new fiscal year, and a "balance" was achieved on paper, by cuts of all kinds. For example, state aid to cities and towns is cut across the board by 4%. Joseph Curtatone, Mayor of Somerville, had to announce education layoffs because of the state cuts. He said, "The concern is, the longer we have that, critical core services will be cut short, or in many cases decimated and eliminated."

The police are furious at Patrick. "He promised us a thousand more cops. Little did we know they were going to have pink slips in their hands," the Boston Herald quotes BPPA President Nee saying. The unions are taking out ads this weekend in local papers. On June 1, the BPPA endorsed the opponent of Patrick for the Governor's election this Fall.