From Jon Keller’s blog:
Some items of immediate note:
-Patrick earned $360,070 last year from ACC Capital Holdings Inc., the parent company of controversial mortgage-lender Ameriquest;
-He earned $3,129,126 in 2005 from his work as a âconsultant and former senior executiveâ for the Coca-Cola Company, where he formerly served as general counsel;
-He made $295,266 last year from Reebok International of Canton, even though he resigned from their board of directors in April 2005;
-Patrick is currently paying off three separate mortgages (valued at more than $300,000) on property he owns in Atlanta and Richmond, Massachusetts;
-He lists ownership of 250 different securities and investments, including the likes of Bayer, Biogen, Cablevision, Chevron, District of Columbia muni bonds, Dow Chemical (!), Marriott, Marathon Oil, Merck, Petsmart, and Verizon; [that’s my link from Dow]
-Under âtrust-owned securities and investments,â Patrick lists such holdings as Archer Daniels Midland, Chubb, Dominoâs Pizza, EMC Corp., Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Lots of interesting narratives in that info; Patrick’s had an interesting life on the way to making lots of money. The Coke settlement is enormous, of course, and probably represents the acrimonious situtation in which he left; they must have wanted to be rid of him pretty bad.
Bringing up people’s stock investments sounds like wandering into a whole neighborhood of glass houses … but hey, I guess that’s Keller’s beat. A lot of people own a lot of stock in a lot of companies that are morally dicey for a lot of reasons. I’m definitely a proponent of socially responsible investing — heck, I try not to even get gas at Exxon/Mobil stations, and I wouldn’t be caught dead with some of the stocks he owns — but the fact is that a lot of investment people snicker at it.
It seems to me that Deval used — and was used by — Chevron, Coke, and Ameriquest; they needed him for equal parts window-dressing and genuine reform up to a point. I don’t know enough about his tenure at these places, and frankly no one — except he and the other players involved — knows enough to validate or criticize his work, as either a reformer or gravy-train hack. What am I missing?
For instance, has anyone just published a simple timeline for his time at Ameriquest? He wasn’t there for very long before they announced the settlement, and he claims he joined to help them improve. Is it plausible he was a reformer? Are we going to take Deval’s word that he was; or Tom Reilly’s word that he was getting rich on the backs of the poor? Can we get beyond the food fight?
All this is very interesting indeed, but it doesn’t really tell me much about what kind of governor he’d be. He’s not “one of us”; the rich are different; and some of those companies are not company I would keep. If it deflates the “St. Patrick” image (in Keller’s words), so much the better; in any event, we’re going to end up with a flesh-and-blood human being as the nominee in September.
Looking at that kind of stuff is just amazing to me. Did he really make nearly $300,000 for four months of service on a board? I’ve sat on a few boards, and none have ever made me a penny. Clearly, the old adage it true–you have to have money to make money.
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And before you all get defensive, I don’t think that this makes Deval a bad candidate, and I know that Mihos, Healey, and Gabrielli are all rich too. But I must say, seeing that kind of level of wealth when I’m so far from it–and when many of the people with whom I work are even further from it–does upset me.
You do realize that Chris Gabrieli is in a league of his own when it comes to wealth. To put this all in perspective, he’s spent 2.7 million so far on ads in ONE MONTH (with his own money). That’s almost as much as Deval Patrick made in 2005.
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So, yes, Deval Patrick is wealthy… but not let’s-pump-2.7-million-of-my-own-money-into-this-race-in-one-month-to-get-700-delegates wealthy.
I’m not sure how much clearer I can get, so I’ll just repeat what I said before–I know that Gabrieli is very rich, and I don’t think that Deval is a bad candidate. But this makes clear that Deval is rich too–not as rich as Gabrieli, who could argue that he is not as rich as the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, who could point out that he is not as rich asWarren Buffet, who could argue tat he is not as rich as Bill Gates.
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But they’re rich. And when I read that, as someone who is far from rich and who works with people in abject poverty, the disparity is frustrating.
According to Patrick’s press release, he served on the board for about 2 years. Corporate boards routinely compensate their directors – you have probably served on nonprofit boards (as I have), which don’t pay.
Yeah, I’ve bene on non-profit boards. Just shows the extent to which wealth is skewed toward the corporate world, and to which our society doesn’t value the non-profit world.
Where is Richmond, Massachusetts?
EVERYTHING to you Republicans? 😉
Now that I’ve seen the size of it – perhaps he DID buy the town!
Keller does also mention that the Patricks gave $301,000 to charity and paid $1.5 million in state and federal taxes. I think the proportion they have given to charity (just about a “tithe”) and their obvious decision not to utilize tax shelters indicates that they have used their wealth responsibly.
The amount listed for charitable contributions is for both Deval and Diane…The total income listed is Deval’s only. We don’t know (nor may we ever) what the exact percentage of their overall income was charity…
I guess I am missing something. For the life of me I can’t figure out why being rich matters. George Washington was a rich man, so was FDR, Kennedy and Bush Maximus. Harry Abraham Lincon and Harry Truman were not. Bush Minimus is. Jimmy Carter was not. So what?
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If Patrick came from inherited wealth, someone would be carping about his cushy background and likely claiming he lacked the common touch. If he were poor they would be wondering how he would use the office to his own advantage. Instead of seeing this clearly self-made man as a role model, we are needling him like mosquitos simply for succeeding better than most of us.
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This is just the sort of personal attack that makes real leaders run from politics. We seem to routinely place potential leaders in “no win” positions and then wonder why we get so few good ones.
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It amazes me that so much attention is being paid to nonesense and precious little to things that matter. Patrick has more money than I do. Fine. He serves on well- paid boards. Fine. Which of you would turn down a similar appointment? Just for the record, I would take it in a New York minute.
I certainly didn’t intend the post as an attack, if that’s what you’re saying. I was trying to figure out what this tells us about what kind of Governor he would be. I’m not sure I can provide much insight on that.
I would just add one other thing:
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Deval Patrick is no stranger to poverty. He experienced it as a child, in his work in Darfur, in his pro bono legal work. In my opinion, this sets him apart from many with wealth. He has never distanced himself from the issue of poverty. Rather, he has worked throughout his career to create solutions. I applaud his efforts at Ameriquest because I believe he brought perspective to the board. I highly doubt that whatever he made as a director was a motivation. We Dems need more Deval Patricks on the boards of corporations, especially the ones with questionable practices. I applaud the efforts of those here who have served on the boards of non-profits. Likewise, I applaud Deval for representing Dem values on the boards of large corporations.
lolorb, Why do you say these things? Just because Deval has told you how wonderful he is? I have yet to hear anyone who has worked or served with him in Coke, Texaco or Ameriquest confirm his version of his things. Maybe he is that great. I don’t know. What I do know is that I have spent 10 years battling Ameriquest and it is a rotten company filled with rotten executives who have let devastation in their wake. Show me what he did to change their ways and I will believe. Show me one person involved in the investigation who says, “Deval Patrick was the man who slapped these guys in line” and I will believe. Until then, I wil remain skeptical of a guy who used his DOJ credentials to burrow into the worst of the worst companies to make a Romneyesque fortune.
BTW, a $3 million no-show consulting contract plus $17 Million in stock from Coke for 3 years work? What is that about??????
And didn’t it involve restitution to various black executives? $3 million seems like an AWFUL lot to just attend board meetings.
Peter, Deval’s $3 million from Coke is for a consulting contract AFTER he left the company. It is not related to board service nor to a settlement. The restitution payment that you mention was for blue-collar line managers, not the overpaid execs. I wish I had saved the link, but DP’s payoff is part of Coke’s public filings. I think I found it on http://www.edgaronline.com Basically, it requires him to perform no specific job function, in a location of his choosing and at times that are up to him. Oh, and the contract does not impair his ability to work at other companies (even competitors) during the duration of the contract. That is a lot of money for not a lot of work. Have a Coke and a smile, I guess.
Do not insult my intelligence or that of others on this site. Under your very twisted logic, anyone who works as an exec for a large corporation must be corrupt. Anyone who earns consulting fees is bought and paid for. Yet you support someone who is obviously using millions to buy a place on the ballot. I call it as I see it: hypocrisy.
I didn’t insult your intelligence. I overestimated it. How many people do you know that have no-show contracts for $3 million? If Deval was a Republican you’d be swinging from the rafters about “Old Boy networks” and the such.
And for the record, I do not consider everyone in corporate America corrupt. But I do know when something is fishy.
So stop the hysterics and just discuss whether or not $27 million for less than 3 years worth of work squares with reality.
Should I waste my typing skills on your ridiculous framing of this issue? Where did you pull this $27 million for less than 3 years worth of work from? Your ass? I happen to know that Deval spent a large portion of his time in Atlanta before this year. Is that in your equation for “no show”? WTF do you know about what Deval has or hasn’t done on the board and as a consultant? Where’s your documentation? WTF do you have to say that isn’t pure conjecture and meaningless meanderings? Huh? The only thing fishy that I smell is an orchestrated effort to attack the leading Dem candidate who happens to be an outsider and black. I’ve looked Deval directly in the eye and asked him some tough questions. He never waivered for a second. He is the real deal. We are damn lucky to have such a decent candidate for this office. Why anyone would want to subject themselves to this political crap is beyond me.
It is all public record. Look it up. Or if your such a pal of Deval’s just ask him for a copy of Coke’s filings on the matter. Or you could just continue with your fawning gaze into his eyes.
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He spent time in Atlanta? Selling his house no doubt. BTW…you’re hysterical, again.