In mad, dauntless pursuit of a conceit for his column today, Scot Lehigh trips over his own feet. How does one reconcile these consecutive statements?
In part it's because the governor clearly lacks the appetite for the bold, tough reforms bad fiscal times demand. The Legislature, mind you, has been even worse. Yes, DiMasi's indictment may finally spur action on ethics reform. But that should have been done months ago. Instead, lawmakers have been busy weakening Patrick's proposals.
Patrick's attempt to eliminate some of the most flagrant pension abuses has also gotten bogged down.
Wait, wait, wait … so Patrick “lacks the appetite” for reforms … yet, the legislators have been busy weakening his proposals? Who's doing what now?
Here are the governor's proposals on ethics reform.
Here are the governor's proposals on transportation reform.
Here are the governor's proposals on pension reform.
Anyone can disagree on any individual part of these, but does this demonstrate a “lack of appetite for reform”? What if all of these things passed? Would that not be a damned impressive record of reform on which to run?
I mean, I've admired his work on many occasions, but Lehigh's comment is simply 180 degrees ass-backwards. Out to lunch. From the Bizarro world. Totally wrong.
Now, the governor's supporters should definitely be concerned about his approval ratings (although I suspect they have ticked upwards since the depths of Marian Walsh-land — but maybe not). And as Lehigh indicates, we should operate under the assumption that Baker is a candidate next year.
But that's no reason to simply mischaracterize the record for the sake of touting a good scrap for the governor's office next year.
UPDATE: Why did I bother? Ernie just dispatched this column for me.
The Governor is trying to distance himself from the Legislature in order to become an “outsider.” He and we all know that the legislature runs the state. So whatever “strong” reforms he proposes, they’ll just say no, and both keep on hiring their friends and relatives. Note to Gov. Patrick: A democrat can not be an outsider. Not you, nor Tim Cahill. Not in this one party state.
Who is this Charlie Baker? Is he a democratically encouraged choice to put up token opposition,as was Jim Ogonowski? Not happening. Massachusetts Republicans outside of Boston don’t abide with what Boston wants. Jeff Beatty for example.
Christy Mihos picked a good campaign strategist in Dick Morris, he ran Clinton’s reelection campaign in 1996. He knows how dems think. Be afraid dems, this ain’t the laugher you thought it was going to be.
Dick Morris. I’m not sure Deval needs to be shaking in his boots just yet.
I don’t anticipate a laugher. Baker’s no Ogonowski.
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p>But I also fear no Christy, and Dick Morris is so 1996.
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p>Christy Mihos and Dick Morris…? Together? I’m not sure who’s picking the bottom of which barrel, there. Morris is so pathetically amoral, I’m already feeling bad about laughing at Mihos.
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p>Morris knows how southern Dems react to abrasive stimuli… I doubt very much those skills will translate well to Massachusetts, if at all.
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p>PREDICTION: One, or both, of these guys will be in a Massachusetts jail cell before the election of 2010.
Are going through the judicial process now? I think you need to move out of that glass house. I believe the Massachusetts Republican party is looking pretty good right now. You’re costing us too much.
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p>Agreed. I’ve oft admired Lehigh, also, but this entire piece read like the mutterings of some schlub in his bathrobe, wandering down the street, expressing whatever angers him as he moseys along…
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p>… I guess Charlie Baker’s gotta run now… if only to keep Lehigh from imploding in on himself from sheer inertia.
I don’t agree that Mr. Lehigh mischaracterized the record, and I agree with his comment that Governor Patrick has demonstrated a “lack of appetite” for reform. In my view, today’s column is one of the times that Mr. Lehigh has hit the nail spot on the head. I appreciate that you disagree — such is the joy of politics.
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p>I see far too little evidence of effective follow-through on the part of the Governor’s administration, and far too much evidence of go-along-to-get-along business as usual.
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p>The facts of Mr. DiMasi’s flagrant corruption were available long before the embarrassment of his most recent re-election as Speaker, and Governor Patrick’s amateurish efforts to curry his favor demeaned Governor Patrick and insulted those of us who read the Globe’s excellent reporting on the nauseating spectacle. Oh, and what ever happened to the similar “problems” regarding the scalping legislation?
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p>Instead of asking “what if all of these things passed”, I instead ask what progress has been made on accomplishing any of them? We have a Democratic Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General — and we were treated to years of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” I find it significant that when indictments finally came, they came from the Feds, and were followed rather immediately by Attorney General Coakley’s high-profile shot at Unitil. It would seem that Attorney General Coakley shares the Governor’s distaste for reforming corrupt Democratic party politics.
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p>I see a particularly egregious lack of progress in transportation reform. The July 1st deadline looms. Mr. Aloisi, of all people, is now the Transportation Secretary. The transportation system is in utter chaos. The MBTA is reeling from the impact of completely unreasonable financial demands, and getting zero effective help from anyone. The collapse of our transportation infrastructure should have been a top-shelf burn-the-midnight-oil all-hands-on-deck priority, and instead we got the Marian Walsh fiasco.
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p>I expect more, in challenging times like this, than press releases, re-organizations, and newsletter campaigns.
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p>I’ve asked, in my own post on this same topic (and referencing the same column), for recommendations and nominations of candidates for statewide office who can do better than these incumbents.
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p>We desperately need new tax revenue and we desperately need to make fundamental changes to the financial foundations of the commonwealth, particularly in transportation. I am, frankly, appalled at the outcome of this year’s budget process. I fear we have very long and very rough road ahead of us.
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p>In my view, the combination of the Governor and legislature is failing to meet the challenges that face us. Rather than belabor the failures, I would far rather focus on who I can support in next year’s statewide elections.
Charley, I think you mistakenly linked to a press release on the issue of pension reform. Perhaps you could link the legislation that Deval wrote and sent to the State House instead?
and the legislation was passed today. We should evaluate what was passed. I don’t think it’s all that important that he didn’t file an actual bill, since the eventual language would have plainly been crafted with his input.
Deval got the bill he wanted. Unclear to me how much more would have been accomplished had he filed his own bill. As some around here are fond of saying, a Gov’s filing, particularly on matters of deep concern to the lege (like pensions), has little more effect than a press release anyway.