Even more startling, is the revelation that Deval Patrick just sold his $3,913.00 holding in PetroChina another oil company that does business with the despicable Sudanese government. Yes, the same Sudanese government which wages a genocidal war in its Darfur region. Aside from the legitimate human rights concerns that this investment raises, what about the fact that accoding to Deval’s own website after he graduated from college, Deval worked in the Darfur region of Sudan for a UN youth training project. I would have certainly thought that Deval’s experience in Sudan would have made him more aware and sensitive to such investments. These revelations along with Deval’s work for Texaco, Coke and Ameriquest and make me very concerned about his candidacy. You know what they say: actions speak louder than words.
Right – ’cause you’ve been such a big Patrick backer up ’til now! 😉
I am a democrat and therefore, I hope that in good conscience that I can support the Democratic Nominee. While I hope that Chris Gabrieli is the Democratic Nominee, if he is not, and Deval is, I want to be able to support him wholeheartedly. Consequently, I have many valid concerns regarding Deval’s corporate past and some of the stocks that he has chosen to invest in and profit by. David, I have a question for you: do you think supporting a landmine and cluster bomb manufacturering company is humane or even wise? I don’t. Do you think investing and profiting from a company that contracts with the Sudenese government which endorses genocide is humane or progressive? I don’t. Moreover, I find it especially offensive when you consider that Deval spent one year working in Sudan’s Darfur region. Deval certainly should have known better.
Also, FWIW, Alliant hasn’t manufactured either landmines or cluster bombs for many years, according to the Globe article you cited. Does everyone who owns a VW support slave labor in Nazi death camps? As for PetroChina, I’m glad he sold. From what we know of his stock portfolio, a $3,900 investment wasn’t a very significant part of it. And we have no evidence that he profited at all – maybe he took a loss when he sold.
I bet you’d find a lot of nasty companies somewhere in almost anyone’s portfolio. I myself hold shares in QQQQ, for example, an index fund that includes all of the NASDAQ-100 companies. That’s right, I have a tiny stake in each of those one hundred companies, and I can’t even name most of them. I’m sure at least a couple of them have done things that neither of us would be very happy about. Does that mean I have bad judgement? You’re free to say so, but the reality of the financial world is that tracking the market is my best shot for long-term investment.
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Considering that Mr. Patrick is a wealthy individual, $3-4K holdings are very small investments for him. It’s likely that he has a financial advisor invest in a wide range of industries, effectively creating a customized mutual fund that reflects the risk/return profile that suits the Patrick family. Would I prefer a financial advisor or mutual fund that avoids companies which do business with Sudan? Absolutely, but I doubt I’d have the free time it takes to investigate every single company to which my money could possibly go. Besides, there’s a strong argument to be made that socially responsible people should be investing in companies that misbehave so that we gain influence over their future behavior.
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The excellent Globe article today does a great job of putting to rest a large portion of the insinuations about Mr. Patrick’s background. It’s time to end the whisper campaign. Tell us why you like Gabrieli, not why you hate Patrick.
I do not hate Patrick, as you say but I do think his choices of employers and stocks leave him vulnerable and open to serious questions and scrutiny. Again, Patrick says he supports union workers but works for Coke and United Airlines and repesents the companies vs the workers during labor disputes. Patrick supports civil liberties and minority issues and chooses to work for Ameriquest, a predetory lender that peys on minorities and the elderly. Patrick contends that he stands for environmental causes and yet he works for Texaco. Added to his corporate resume, is the fact that he invests in these questionable stocks, a company that manufactured landmines and cluster bombs and a company that contracts with the genocide-supporting Sudenese government.
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I like Chris Gabrieli for a number of reasons. One, he is a self made man. He left Harvard Medical School when he was in his third year to help his family’s struggling business. I am sure that this was a very difficult decision for both Chris and his family. Yet, he made the selfless decision and turned the family business around and made it very successful. The result was the family business created over 100 jobs. Two, Chris began investing his money into young, innovative business start-ups. Some of those businesses became very successful. The result of these investments was over $1 billion invested in the economy and thousands of new jobs created. Third, over the last ten years, Chris has become involed in public policy issues and civic life. Gabrieli is chairman of MASSINC a policy think tank and he serves on a number of non-profit boards. Fourth, Chris founded Massachusetts 2020, a non-prodit organization devoted to expanding after school programs for our kids. As a parent, I appreciate the work and time that Chris gives to improving the education system for our kids. Fifth, now Chris has almost entirely focused his business interests to growing local companies. Consequently, he founded Ironwood Equity Fund which seeks out investment opportunities for local businesses. Lastly, as a child of a father with MS and a mother with diabetes, I genuinely appreciate the work and money that Chris invested in the stem cell research fight. His efforts helped to defeat Romney’s veto by a veto proof majority in the legislature. Lastly, but most importantly, I got the opportunity to speak with and eventually meet Chris during his search for delegates to the Dem Convention. Chris is a gentleman. A thoughful and intelligent person who takes the time to listen to your concerns and address them. Chris does not always tell you what you want to hear but he is respectful and honest and explains his positions thoroughly. I support him because he is an intelligent and successful man who has a proven record of results. He has taken his success and invested his personal time and money into very worthwhile causes. I think Chris Gabrieli will be a great governor based on his character, intellect and track record. Despite the fact that I obviously like Chris Gabrieli, he has, in my opinion, done more for the people of Massachusetts than his other two opponents.
You’re very good at sticking to the talking points (and that’s not meant as a bad thing — an unwavering message is what wins elections). Unfortunately, my poor choice of the word “hate” at the end gave you that opening to stick to the talking points and not address the rest of my post.
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I’m really interested to know what you actually think about what I’ve said about people’s investment portfolios. You could dig up bad companies in just about anyone’s portfolio. If you’re going to say that Patrick has bad judgement for making investments, then surely you have to say the same about almost anyone?
The holdings outlined today were not mutual funds rafi, they were individual stocks in Deval Patrick’s personal portfolio. That’s a huge – make that HUGE – difference and I am guessing that deep down you probably know that. While Deval Patrick has less control over the underlying stocks in a mutual fund, he chose to buy and hold the stocks noted by Greencape and the Globe – prior to selling them recently. Hmmm, wonder why he did that? If he feels the need to sell them now during the heat of a campaign, he probably should not have bought them in the first place.
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Greencape raises a real concern and disturbing pattern for Patrick. Patrick needs to step up and answer these questions prior completely to Kerry Healey going to work on him with ~$15M in negative ads come September 20th – assuming he wins on the 19th. As a Gabrieli supporter, I hope that is not the case although I plan to support whomever wins the primary.
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I do not have much problem with Patrick making $ in the market or during his career. The problem comes when you make proclamations like “no ordinary leader” and stuff like that – then proceed to do what most “ordinary” people would do in that circumstance. Patrick has consistently taken the $ over making the stand (e.g. that $2.1 million from Coke sure looks like hush money from here). That makes his statements appear hollow at best and hypocritical at worst.
If you read my post, you will see I did not claim these funds were part of a mutual fund, just that anyone who holds a mutual fund that invests in misbehaving companies is just as guilty. No, I don’t believe that investing through a mutual fund somehow absolves you of anything that might be morally wrong with those investments. I’m not sure how I can make the point any more clear. But since we’re guessing people’s inner thoughts, I have a feeling people would still be making hay about these stocks even if they were part of a mutual fund.
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One problem, as I see it, is that Deval has been given good advice, yet he has chosen to ignore it. I know for a fact* he was advised over a year ago to cut his ties with Ameriquest. He took the advice in and… ignored it.
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I understand this is his first political campaign. The problem is it is for Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the highest state office in the state.
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There was a point in time, before the decision to run for governor, when the run was under consideration. This was the time to bring in professionals and perform the vetting. That is unless you are “No Ordinary Leader”.
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So in the end there seems to be recurring questions about the plausibility of these explainations. “No Ordinary Leader” seems to continue to have these secondary underlying themes, in direct conflict with the image he is trying to project… and therein lies the main problem for the Deval Patrick the Candidate, his Candidacy and the Campaign.
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* sorry can’t disclose the source as it was a confidential conversation. I can tell you this, they were once a strong supporter of Deval’s and have since left the campaign, feeling that their seasoned advice was being ignored.
it’s a pattern.
I did not notice any civic affiliation or philanthropic accomplishments in Duval Patrick’s lengthy resume printed in the Boston Globe today. It seems the man who claims to have been very blessed throughout his life does not share his good fortune. That says a lot about a person.
If you folks could lay off the Haterade for a second and oh, I dunno, Google, you could find the answer right at your fingertips:
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DEVAL PATRICK RELEASES INCOME AND CHARITABLE GIVING INFORMATION Files SFI Form Before Candidate Deadline, Provides More Information Than Is Required
BOSTON—Tuesday, May, 30, 2006—Democratic candidate for Governor Deval Patrick today filed a statement of financial interest with the State Ethics Commission, providing an unprecedented amount of information about his income and charitable giving.
PatrickÂ’s 2005 income was approximately $3.8 million. Patrick and his wife Diane contributed more than $301,000 to charity in 2005 (emphasis mine) and paid approximately $1.5 million in federal and state taxes.
“I have worked very hard and been very blessed,” said Patrick.
Patrick filed the form before the June 6 deadline for non-incumbent candidates and disclosed more information than is required by law about the details of his income.
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Oh, and it’s D-E-v-a-l (one “L” only, please) If you’re going to pile on, at least have the courtesy to spell his name right. Thank you.
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We now return to the Deval Patrick hater-thon, already in progress.
Thanks!
I have no knowledge about the extent of Mr. Patrick’s philanthropy (though I seem to recall some financial filing indicated it was extensive, hopefully someone can refresh my memory), but just because he doesn’t talk about it doesn’t mean he doesn’t do it. As a matter of fact, I happen to believe that giving anonymously is a higher form of charity (one of the lessons from Hebrew school that especially resonated with me). I think it also says a lot when people feel the need to trumpet their donations from the rooftops.
I still do not read anything about Devil’s community ties or past civic duties. Has he ever served his town of Milton or the South Shore in an elected position? He is asking for a rather big job without much experience in the state. He has done well elsewhere (Washington D.C.)and that’s what I’m afraid of. If he gets elected he will want to be elsewhere.
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P.S. Taxes do not count as charity.