ew year, new century, new millennium - same old Cellucci?
In the first week of January, a person would like to give a governor the benefit of a doubt. But Paul Cellucci makes it very hard. The governor plans a new strategy for the year 2000, Boston newspapers reported on Christmas Eve. He will use his high-profile post, his political organization, and his campaign war chest to advance an ''outside the building'' agenda.
By New Year's Eve, Cellucci was making it clear just how far ''outside the building'' he wants to go. He refused to commit to serving out his four-year term and left the door open to acceptance of a federal appointment if Republican hopeful George W. Bush becomes president.
So far, Cellucci's new strategy doesn't sound new at all. He is looking at the future and deciding that his is not in Massachusetts - if Bush wins and he can wangle a way to Washington.
If Cellucci really cared about governing Massachusetts rather than fleeing it, he would address issues of true concern to the people of this Commonwealth.
The governor's single-minded dedication to reducing the state income tax to 5 percent shows a continuing blindness to what people really care about. Evidence of that lies in an independent poll, taken in October by Mass Insight in partnership with Opinion Dynamics Corp.
The Republican State Committee released the poll findings to show how popular Cellucci is. In a vacuum, popular he may be. But the same is not true of the tax cut that is his major fiscal initiative. This same poll indicates that in these times of economic prosperity, the public, as the executive summary spells it out, ''supports proactive social investments over tax cuts.''
The poll presented three options for spending the budget surplus: on tax cuts, on things like education, child care, and health care, or on improving infrastructure.
In response, 55 percent said the money should be spent on things like education, child care, and health care. Twenty-three percent recommend spending it on infrastructure. Only 18 percent chose a tax cut.
The poll proves what common sense dictates. When you have extra money, no one says you should waste it. But it is a good time to think of ways to use it wisely.
As an individual, you can spend it on necessities, like a leaky roof; on dreams, like giving a child piano lessons; or in a spirit of charity and good will, by using it to help out a relative in need.
As a Commonwealth, we can allocate parts of a budget surplus in a similar fashion.
Health care is a huge issue for Massachusetts residents. Yet so far Cellucci's main contribution to the controversy over managed care is a borrowing arrangement designed to buy time for an HMO that is run by a former Cellucci aide.
When it comes to schools, Cellucci was smart enough to understand the public's strong desire for better public education and to see it as an underlying theme of his 1998 gubernatorial run.
However, all his energy on the subject is directed at the narrow notion of testing students and teachers. He lacks a broad vision for improving Massachusetts schools and lost tremendous credibility when he vetoed a $94 million allocation for local education. Legislators, including his fellow Republicans, unanimously overrode the veto.
The governor may be lulled by poll results indicating that 67 percent view him favorably. But in the cold light of a well-financed statewide campaign, those numbers could easily change. ''Give me $500,000 and three weeks of commercials running headlines from his first year and I could drop his number by 25 points,'' boasts Democratic consultant Michael Goldman.
Is that an idle partisan threat? Or is there just enough truth in it to explain Cellucci's strong desire to use the Bush campaign as a springboard out of here?
Cellucci isn't working very hard at building up the state Republican apparatus, a basic requirement for any Republican governor who truly wants to change the direction of state government. Instead, he's thinking of a shortcut to keep the governor's office in Republican hands - by passing it on, midterm, to Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift.
That's not a fresh start, but a false start, to a fresh new year.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist.
