Gov. Patrick’s self-righteousness knows no bounds…
Governor Deval Patrick declined to say yesterday whether he would implement a tax rollback if the voters mandate it in November, pitting him against all three of his campaign rivals, who say they would abide by the referendum.
During a morning radio appearance, Patrick answered a question by saying he wanted to persuade the electorate to oppose the referendum.
“I think we work real hard to try to show them how calamitous a choice that would be,’’ Patrick said in response to a question from Jim Braude, WTKK-FM 96.9 host, about whether he would implement a reduction in the sales tax to 3 percent.
When Braude asked again, Patrick gave a nearly verbatim answer. Pressed a third time, Patrick said he thought governors and legislators had an obligation to honor the will of the voters.
“I think it is also important as leaders, and as candidates, not to just encourage the voters to drive the truck off a cliff,’’ he said.
All of the gubernatorial candidates oppose Question 3, which asks voters whether they want to slice the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent, which critics say would cost the state about $2.5 billion.
A spokeswoman for Republican Charles D. Baker, said he would implement the tax cut, though he does not support it. Baker wants to bring the sales tax rate back to 5 percent, its level prior to last year’s round of tax increases.
Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who is running for governor as an independent, is “concerned’’ with the prospect of the lost revenue, his campaign spokeswoman said, but would follow through with the mandate.
“We would honor the will of the voters and suggest that the governor do the same,’’ the spokeswoman, Amy Birmingham, said.
Why can’t Patrick just say, flat-out, that he will implement the tax rollback if it’s passed? Is his loathing of the concept of tax reform so strong that he can’t bring himself to just do that? Amazing…
DEVAL OF THE DAY: September 2, 2006: The Daily Kos declares Patrick “the netroots candidate,” describing him as “…knowledgeable and principled” and also noting, “If the country wants to see what a Democratic agenda can look like, we are poised to do it right here.” Don’t say we weren’t warned…
UPDATE: More from the Herald and the Pioneer Institute.
SECOND UPDATE: More from Michael Graham and the AP. Plus, Charlie Baker speaks to Howie Carr, Jeff Katz and Todd Feinburg.
DEVAL OF THE DAY: September 1, 2009: Gov. Patrick undergoes hip replacement surgery at Mass. General Hospital—and temporarily hands off power to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. Talk about going from bad to worse!
UPDATE: More from the Globe, Herald and AP.
SECOND UPDATE: Deval displays his arrogance again. More from John Carroll, the Patriot Ledger and Red Mass Group.
Is the governor ready for his closeup?
Here’s one thing all four candidates for Bay State governor can agree on: They want to debate.
Five showdowns, including three televised debates, have been locked down so far as the political season kicks into high gear.
Paul Watanabe, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts, said the TV debates could have a considerable impact on the gubernatorial race, pointing to Scott Brown’s come-from-behind U.S. Senate victory. “The debates themselves were crucial – especially in appearing to assist Scott Brown,” Watanabe said.
So far, Gov. Deval Patrick, Republican rival Charles Baker, independent Tim Cahill and Green Rainbow candidate Jill Stein have signed on for a debate on WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) and two debates hosted by a consortium of Hub media that includes four TV stations: WCVB-TV (Ch.5), WHDH-TV (Ch.7), WGBH-TV (Ch.2) and NECN.
“These should be crucial, just like the Brown debates,” said Thomas Whalen, a political professor at Boston University. “The Brown debates framed the race, in terms of the issues. Brown did a very good job of showing what he stood for.”
In addition, Patrick, Baker and Cahill plan to square off on WTKK-FM (96.9) and WBZ-AM (1030), but Stein’s campaign said she wasn’t invited to the two radio debates. “We’d like as many debates as possible and more importantly, we’d like to be invited to as many debates as possible,” said Stein campaign manager Daryl Sprague.
Moderated by political analyst Jon Keller of WBZ-TV (Ch.4), the first hour-long TV debate is set for 7 p.m. on Sept. 8. The second and third debates, organized by several local TV stations, radio stations and The Boston Globe, are scheduled for Sept. 21 and Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. CNN’s John King will moderate the Sept. 21 event.
Can’t wait to see Patrick try to defend these miserable four years. These debates should be classics.
UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.
The governor is shocked, shocked!
Governor Deval Patrick described as “very troubling” today’s Globe report that state Representative Thomas M. Petrolati, the House’s third-ranking leader, is seeking to block his testimony before a special counsel investigating the State Probation Department.
“The probation department has become a rogue agency with a complete lack of transparency, and oversight,” Patrick said in a statement to the Globe.
Independent counsel Paul F. Ware had ordered Petrolati to appear before him last week to respond to allegations about his efforts to secure probation jobs for his family, friends, and supporters, the Globe reported today. Ware also wanted to see documents about Petrolati’s relationship with Probation Commissioner John J. “Jack” O’Brien, who was suspended from his job in May after the Globe revealed a pattern of political favoritism in hiring.
But Petrolati has objected in legal documents filed with the Supreme Judicial Court Friday, saying Ware is not authorized to investigate legislators.
Patrick today urged the Legislature to pass the bill he filed in January that would put the agency under the governor’s control.
He also urged “everyone — probation management, staff, as well as legislators — to cooperate fully with the investigation, to make sure we get all the facts needed to fix what is broken.”
“A complete lack of transparency, and oversight.” Doesn’t that describe this entire administration?
UPDATE: More from the Boston Herald, Red Mass Group and Jennifer C. Braceras.
Howie Carr on the latest controversy involving our governor.
It’s a good thing for all concerned that Deval Patrick’s aides aren’t cops, because they’re utterly incompetent at sleuthing.
Let’s say you’re one of the governor’s crack coatholders, and you’re going over the application of a lawyer the governor has just nominated for a six-year term as administrative law judge at the Department of Industrial Accidents – for $94,700 a year.
The application form is 12 pages long, and deep inside is this question: “How long have you resided in Massachusetts?”
And the nominee answers, truthfully: “Two weeks.”
Do you think that just might possibly raise a red flag? If you’re working for Deval, the answer is no, which is why none of his hacks will ever make detective.
The guy in question is Chris Maclachan, late of Derry, N.H., now of Haverhill, Mass. He’s serious about wanting this good job at a good wage – heck, he even went down to City Hall to register to vote, and he just spent two hours at the main RMV office in Boston getting a Massachusetts drivers license. Re-registering the car . . . that’ll take a little longer.
“My mistake, my mistake,” he was saying Friday in his office at the DIA, where he’s already an $80,000-a-year lawyer. “The question on the application doesn’t say ‘legal residence,’ which most people take to mean where you vote. But it’s my fault. I was being hyper-technical.”
Maclachan doesn’t seem like a bad guy, not at all. If I had a case, I’d much prefer him to hear it than, say, Cheryl Jacques (rhymes with Fakes), the scheming former state senator who’s already on the DIA payroll as a judge.
And he probably would have gotten the job – if he hadn’t gotten a call from Mary-Ellen Manning, the governor’s councilor who represents the Merrimack Valley, including Haverhill. As her alleged constituent, he was supposed to be introduced to the Council by Manning. But when she called him for some biographical details, he began blabbing about how he really lived in New Hampshire, even though he’d just rented an apartment in Haverhill.
Well, we only have to wait a couple of months before ethical behavior returns to the Corner Office…
Jim Stergios of the Pioneer Institute sets the record straight.
The big picture here is that the Governor could have been a game-changer for education in Massachusetts, but instead he sided with the adults in the system, at the expense of the core business of teachers and schools:
Bringing high-quality academic experiences to kids.
He sacrificed our standards for 33 cents a day per student in Race to the Top funds. He hitched our wagon with places like Mississippi, West Virginia and Ohio, so that each time we want to improve our standards, we will have to negotiate it out with them.
That. Is. Not. Smart. And that is not leadership.
Let’s face it: if Patrick’s performance as Governor had been similar to Pioneer’s performance as an incubator of ideas, we’d consider Patrick one of the best leaders in Bay State history. As it is, his administration has been a race to the bottom.