NBT:  Certainly our Democratic Party controlled state government has made some significant blunders.....no doubt about that.  PERS was destined to create unfunded mandates from the start.  I'd enjoy a conversation regarding the systemic flaws in the system.

The JC hospital is something which CAN be addresssed.  The facility can be closed.  The current population can be absorbed in the Salem population....the empty beds are there.  The money saved through the closure can a) partially be redirected to fund the ever-so-needed community-based services and b) help reduce the "hole" in the State budget.  Doing so would require the legislators acknowledging their error and being  willing to correct it.  Not to be too much of a skeptic, but I can't remember the last time I saw politicians do that.  Instead, I expect them to boast that they're "protecting the mentally-ill" by keeping it open and spending that 34.5 million per year.  They're actually doing a disservice to the mentally ill.