I am probably missing something, but I am having trouble figuring out how Chris Gabrieli has managed a free ride throughout this whole campaign. Compared to any of the other candidates the lack of scrutiny has been breathtaking. Maybe his getting into the race so late has left little time for the press to do their homework, but I think it is high time it did. I mean Patrick cant replace a sink in a half bath without the Globe running a full pager, but there has been no similar examination of Gabrieli.
All we really know is that he is rich enough to devote fifteen million to buy the office, that he is a venture capitalist, and that he had something to do with some sort of after school programs. One has had to do some serious research to get any of the details. (The Globe team of assassins seems to have shown little interest.)
What the press hasnt bothered to tell us much about is how he got rich precisely how he got rich. How much oversight did he exercise over the companies he funded? How many of these companies succeeded; how many failed?
How much responsibility should he have taken for the tax delinquencies and liens against eleven companies in his Bessemer fund? (According to the Heralds John Wedge the entire tax matter is only 60,000 dollars, but if you have fifteen million to buy a spot on the ballot, whats a year and halfs average wage?) Now, less than two weeks before the primary are we treated to the revelation that at least several of the companies at which he got the job done have been riddled with fraud, insider trading and even the deaths of patients. (According to the Wedge article 16.7 million in settlements or slightly above his bidding price for the corner office.)
Has it occurred to anyone that getting the job done, means doing the job? If we are voting for a candidate who is to oversee the dealings of the Commonwealth, shouldnt we know a bit more about his oversight of the companies he funded and upon whose boards he sat? Particularly when these companies are not as clean as this candidate has led us to believe and as the local press until yesterday has turned a blind eye to. If these are the companies Mr. Gabrieli is touting as job creators shouldnt we know how many of those jobs were technicians and how many were defense lawyers?
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Well, let’s see, Deval Patrick has been through ZERO campaigns, therefore has not been publically vetted before. (That is run through the op research wringer)
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Chris Gabrieli has been through a brutal 8th Congressional District primary, and he has been through one statewide primary and on to one statewide general election. So this is his FOURTH campaign and fourth opportunity for the mudslingers .
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I’m sure if you did some research on those various campaigns you would find he hardly had a “free ride” as you say…
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I would feel more comfortable if Deval had been through a few more campaigns. At least we know Chris Gabrieli actually knows what it is like to go through full campaign cycle as a candidate. Whereas trying to start right at the top usually makes for tough sleding.
From the day Deval Patrick said “I’m running”, there has been nothing but vetting going on. The Glob has dug up as much negativity as they could possibly find. None of it was worth the paper it was printed on. Deval’s new home was one. His mortgage payments and a bank screwup, another. A tax lien from years ago that was paid off. Killer Coke accusations. The list is endless, and there is absolutely nothing that has turned into the silver bullet that the other campaigns so desperately want. Have we seen fair and balanced reporting? Probably not and may never. Have we heard about the expense of Gabber’s home? Nope. Do we know how much he pays on a mortgage or mortgages? Nope. Do we know the structures of his investments? Nope. Do we have any insight on why some of his investments turned bad? Nope. So from your perspective, we are to believe that these should not be covered by the media because it’s all been said before, nothing new. Gabbers is old news, except he’s running for Gov now. How about some comparisons of how Deval and Gabs deal with real business issues? Why did Gabbers drop out of some investments before trouble sprang up? Why did these companies have these problems to begin with? Was there any way those problems could have been prevented in the capitalization process? Inquiring minds might like to know before the primary — even if it’s just old news.
So that would entail two trips, one to Suffolk County Registruy of Deeds and the second to the Essex County Registry of Deeds Essex County. Fortunately we don’t have to wait for Monday and get in the car to drive over to each registry. Just click on the links provided above…
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What do we find out? Besides the fact it looks like Bill Galvin has been supportive of Registrars across Massachusetts getting the money to get online:
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Since Chris seems to have the ability to put his own cash money into his campaign, I don’t think bankers are worried about him making the monthly payment on that first mortgage.
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So based on what we now know, one might assume that Deval, because of his $6,000,000 plus in mortgages, has a lot less leeway in contributing to his own campaign if he so chooses to do. Kind of makes you wonder: is really such a “principled stand” or the reality of his financial situation that dictates his minimal contributions to his own campaign? Nothing wrong with either one. But don’t say one thing if it is really the other. Kind of leaves the blurry image syndrome.
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So based on Frank Phillips’ (Boston Globe) work that Deval pays $27,000 a month in mortgage payments for $6,000,000 in loans, we can assume that Chris pays around 1/4 of that on $1,400,000 in loans therefore about $6,750 a month.
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Let’s be grownups and admit that both Deval and Chris make their own beds to sleep in so to speak, one has chosen to pay $27,000 a month in mortgages and the other $6,750. I hope this helps to answer your questions about the mortgages of Chris vs. Deval. The good news I hope is that one of them can add $135,000 a year salary to pay either $324,000 or the $81,000 in mortgage payments due.
So we’re back to mortgage payments?
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Deval just had the largest gross contributions to a campaign in one month in the history of the state. He doesn’t have to buy his way into the office. Oh, and this is from a candidate who was written off as unelectable and bound to fail just a little over a year ago.
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The “let’s be grownups” cracked me up when followed by the nah, nah, nah, na na — my candidate pays less than yours does. ROTFLMAO.
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Most of us can see that you made the opening by asking the question, not me. So please, why do you want to take my head off for getting the answers to your own question?
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If you don’t want to know the answer, don’t ask the question.
and then answered the ones with the least amount of meaning. I was giving examples of what the media has questioned Deval on and ignored regarding Gabs. There’s a whole laundry list. Glad to know Gabs isn’t going broke anytime soon and that he can afford to pour more millions into his quest for the Gov. slot.
said it better Renaissance Man. Here, here!
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BTW Jetho, one could argue that the Globe is another arm of the Patrick campaign in terms of the puffy free press it gave him over the vast majority of this campaign – especially relative to the other campaigns.
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Some of Mr. Patrick’s positions in civil rights cases and on illegal immigration have not gotten the examination from the press that one would think is mandatory when a person is running for an office of this stature.
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