There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done

In an effort to ram through casinos, Gov. Patrick intends to include projected casino revenue in his budget forecasts.

Gov. Patrick is betting that if legislators accept his budget, they'll accordingly accept casinos. Otherwise, they'll have to find another way to pay for the budget.

Speaker DiMasi's spokesman cautioned that "You should put revenue in the budget that you know is going to be there, not revenue you hope is going to be there.” It's sad that such a point needs to be made, and even sadder that it will undoubtedly be ignored.

There are many reasons to criticize Gov. Patrick’s attachment to casinos. For our part, we worry that casino revenue will serve as an increased credit line for a fiscally irresponsible State House. If you can’t pay your bills, cut back.

Instead of looking for new sources of tax revenue, the governor and the legislature should be scouring the budget for redundancies, inefficiencies, and superfluities.

It’s not surprising that the majority of legislators are looking for new sources of cash, even at the expense of the very working poor they claim to represent. But it is disappointing.

Together they can, indeed.