THE MARIAN WALSH DEAL

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7)

If you're a Massachusetts resident and don't know what "The Marian Walsh Deal" is, you must have been in a coma for the past three weeks! About three weeks ago, Governor Deval Patrick named State Senator Marian Walsh (from Boston's mostly "nice" West Roxbury neighborhood) as his new associate director of the Massachusetts Educational and Health Authority. This "associate director" position had not been filled for twelve years! In other words, when the Commonwealth declares a "state of emergency" and says, "all non essential personnel do not need to come to work", THIS job would be considered a "non essential personnel" job. Ms. Walsh's starting pay on the new job was to have been $175,000!

This announcement produced what Ms. Walsh herself called a "tsunami"! It was not only political right (such as Michael Graham and Howie Carr) who were outraged- many on the left including Channel 2's Emily Rooney, were shocked, as well. Marian Walsh had been a big Deval Patrick supporter from the time he announced his candidacy for Governor. This was obviously a patronage payback. But what a time for a patronage payback! The Governor has been asking the citizens of the Commonwealth to prepare to sacrifice, to expect toll increases, fee increases, and tax increases. People around the state are losing their jobs and are upset about the economy. So, the Governor gives Ms. Walsh a $175,000 job. It made so sense.

A few days later, Marian Walsh announced she would ONLY take an annual salary of $120,000 for the position, and the Governor said he had a committee looking into what salary levels for various state jobs should be.

Earlier this week, Marian Walsh announced she is NOT taking the job. She will keep her State Senate seat. Is it likely she will be vulnerable if and when she runs for reelection? I'd say it's very likely.

Many have argued that Marian Walsh is a nice person and a hard worker. That may be true. I have nothing personally against Marian Walsh. But as I reflected about it this week, my mind was drawn back to early 2006. At that time, Marian Walsh proposed legislation requiring any religious body which brings in over $100,000 a year to submit to a formal annual audit. (This IS required of all non-religious non-profit organizations.) Walsh proposed that legislation as a slap against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in reaction to the "priest sex scandal" which included misuse of funds and all sorts of other shenanigans. Walsh pushed this legislation with a vengeance. The problem is, Marian Walsh does not understand small and medium sized Protestant churches and how they are governed. She had no idea how many churches would be badly hurt and would even CLOSE had this legislation passed!

Readers may be thinking, "What's the big deal? What does a formal annual audit cost?" If you're thinking such an audit costs three or four hundred dollars, THINK AGAIN! A rather cheap annual audit can cost $3000. A much more typical annual audit can cost in excess of $10,000! Say you hire an accounting firm to do your audit and this takes them 30 hours of work. If they charge $100. an hour, that would be $3000! Perhaps you can understand why so many small church pastors and Boards were alarmed about this proposed legislation.

At the time, a number of clergy from the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association met with State Rep. Tom Sannicandro (who represents Ashland and much of the southern part of Framingham) to express our concern. We were largely successful in changing his mind (in our favor) on the issue. Many pastors and concerned laypeople got on the phone and wrote letters and e-mails to their state reps. and state senators. Ultimately, Ms. Walsh's proposed legislation went down in flames.

I'll never forget watching Marian Walsh on Channel 2's "Greater Boston" debating her proposed legislation against State Rep. Byron Rushing from Roxbury. Rushing had obviously heard from pastors of small Baptist and Pentecostal churches in his community and he had his facts straight. Walsh came across as a condescending elitist who had no sympathy for struggling religious groups.

Hindus believe in "karma"; you know, the whole thing of "what goes around comes around". I want to be careful because I'm NO Hindu, and in fact I strongly disagree with at least half of what's taught in Hinduism, but I think we can see the point of "what goes around comes around". I find that it's not ALWAYS true. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and vice-versa. And, while there is no Bible verse that says, "What goes around comes around", the closest thing to it I can find is the verse I quoted above- Galatians 6:7. It's the whole thing that "what you sow, you'll reap". If you're generally a nice, generous person, people will tend to be nice and generous to you, for instance. If you're generally a mean and selfish person, people will tend to not care much for you. If you're lazy and irresponsible, you'll tend to reap poverty and problems. If you're diligent and responsible, you will have some setbacks, but you'll generally be successful.

In 2006, Marian Walsh had NO sympathy for struggling churches and pastors. NONE. Again, I don't know Marian Walsh and I have nothing personally against her. But I see a principle here: when you try to come against God's people and ministries and make things hard for them, no matter how "good" your motives may be, you can expect to reap problems and disappointments down the road.

Sorry, Marian Walsh, but that's the deal.