THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2002 — What year is it? Those were my groggy first thoughts this morning after the clock radio went off. I heard angry voices on WRKO’s Blute and Ozone Show, huffing about taxes. I blinked my eyes and stared at the clock. It read 7:32 a.m., but didn’t give me the year. Then I heard a Speaker of the House taking to the airwaves to lay the foundation for new taxes. The voice kept referencing Mattapan and Dorchester. It also boasted about the $2 billion in budget cuts he and state representative John Rogers were prepared to make. Had we passed through some bizarre time warp during the night? No. That wasn’t House Speaker George Keverian of Everett talking. It was Tom Finneran. One call from Dorchester denounced Finneran for what may be Finneran's exorbitant tax increases. " Oh God, Donnie, no, " was Finneran’s first response.

I hadn’t heard intensity like this on a Beacon Hill issue in years. For much of the 1990s and even into 2000, interest in local politics has been at a remarkably low ebb. Local radio, for the most part, has reflected this trend. Where once the airwaves were filled with the likes of Jerry Williams and Gene Burns, known for riling up the public on issues such as tax hikes, water-use fees, and the statewide seat-belt law, local talk-radio hosts — with the admirable exception of David Brudnoy on WBZ and a few others — had largely gotten out of the business of doing local politics.

Talk-show host and former Republican congressman Peter Blute says today’s show is likely the beginning of a trend. " It’s getting hotter, " says Blute, adding that the phone lines heated up when Finneran came on. " People are just getting up to speed. I don’t think people feel like the economy is that bad, but when they hear a $2 billion increase, they get riled up. "

On the substance, I’m with the camp, including the Mass Taxpayers Foundation, that believes some taxes do need to be raised to address the extraordinary budget shortfall the state now faces (one made worse by the post –September 11 economic downturn). That said, more local interest in politics can only be a good thing. I’ll take a time warp every once and a while.