Dear Hecate,
I read in my local South Shore paper that Senator Murray said that the so- called "earmarks" in the state budget are necessary because the more experienced Legislature knows more than the new Governor about each line item and where the funds in each should be directed. Sounds pretty disrespectful to me.
Hecate says:
First of all remember that it is the Legislative branch's constitutional right and obligation to appropriate funds for the budget submitted to them by the Administrative branch. And I guess there may be no more than 10 or 12 people in the whole state who know where every dollar in every line item goes and why and while Senator Murray is one of them, the new Governor is not.......yet.
Senator Murray is like the good victorian ladies on washday with worn clothes and limited lines who knew how to hang up the socks and the sheets with the same pins, keep the torn underwear hidden in the middle and hang the new shirts on the side facing the street.
BTW I recall her also saying that she assumed that once this new Governor had been around awhile she might think about giving him a little room to make some of his own spending priorities. Meanwhile as the constitution says, the Governor proposes, the Legislature disposes.
Who is Hecate?
Hecate is a Greek Goddess who served as a guide and coach at the crossroads of Hades, where after crossing the River Styx, Greek souls found themselves facing three choices: the Elysian Fields, abode of the great and heroic; the Fields of Asphodel, for all who had led a blameless but ordinary life; or to Tartarus, a sunless land of punishment for criminals.
Hecate's best known role in Greek mythology was guiding Persephone, the goddess of spring, on her annual journeys between Hades and Earth. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is portrayed as a nurturing and protective guide for Persephone on those annual journeys.
