Adam Reilly has double-dog-dared the MA lefty blogosphere to comment about Deval Patrick meeting with legislators yesterday:
… If you’re a devoted Patrick partisan, you can’t just pan the story as B.S. That Patrick met yesterday with DiMasi and Travaglini (and has solicited help from other legislators) is no surprise; to win in November, he probably needs to have the state’s Democratic power brokers helping him out. But as Frank Phillips and Andrea Estes aptly note, it’s hard to square Patrick’s courtship of Beacon Hill bigwigs with the harsh anti-Beacon Hill rhetoric he’s been using on the campaign trail.
Well, I love Adam and his consistently bad-ass reporting, but I think this perceived contradiction is a little silly. You know, if Deval Patrick becomes governor, he’s gonna have to meet with the legislature. (Noooooo!) Yes, he has used fairly harsh language to describe the culture on Beacon Hill. And his adviser Doug Rubin is absolutely correct to say that much of that is directed at Republican governors — much … but indeed not all.
The question is how to address the cultural problem. Now, I have relished the thought of some big, public fights with various legislative figures over the lack of transparency and accountability on various issues, from the large (Big Dig) to the relatively small (sick day abuse, the Ruane pension). I’ll pop popcorn along with everyone else — and be ready to get Patrick’s back against the hackier elements of the lege. But insofar as Deval can change legislators’ minds and habits with a friendly phone call and finding common ground, rather than by issuing threats from on high, that’s all good with me. I suspect he’ll try the latter before the former — and browbeat as necessary.
The only thing that matters to me is that good legislation gets passed that improves people’s lives — with an absence of hackery and shenanigans. You can have “the failed politics of Beacon Hill”, or you can have the successful, shiny-new-hope politics of Beacon Hill, or something in-between; but it’s gonna happen on Beacon Hill, and likely with these players. I don’t like that Patrick is getting so much money from Sal and Trav — don’t get me started on campaign finance — but fortunately he’s got a genuine and enthusiastic grassroots base of support. Patrick can’t compete with Healey on money, so it’s the 12,000+ folks making phone calls, canvassing and talking to their neighbors that will help put him in the Governor’s office. That’s his base of power, not the moneymen — they’re late to the game. That’s why I like the guy — not because he’s a saint, but because he and his campaign are still doing an awful lot right.
… And to respond to Adam’s “nada” comment: There are any number of reasons why we may not comment on something — like, being away from the computer most of the day. But it’s also true that we don’t follow the same bouncing-ball narrative as the conventional media. Why not? Well, sometimes I really don’t care that much about what’s thought to be the big story of the moment. Do we have to respond to every potshot, every insinuation? As far as I could tell, the Globe story was remarkable not for the reported facts themselves, but rather the insinuation by Phillips and Estes that there’s something untoward about him meeting with the same folks with whom he’d like to work for the next few years … and yeah, they’re raising bucks for him. Until Adam mentioned it, I couldn’t even get up the interest to want to play defense. (But I respect him enough that I’ll take his bait.)
…we’d be hearing about him being naive, arrogant, or some combination thereof. Instead the wiseguy media implication is that he’s a hypocritical sellout. There’s no winning with some people.
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Patrick just kicked the legislative leaderships’ butts. They were mostly with Reilly, then they helped Gabs get on the ballot. He owes them nada. But he’s not being pissy and vengeful, he’s being magnanimous and statesmanlike and practical.
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One reason Patrick will be able to accomplish more in one year as Governor than Romney has in four is that he is willing to work with the other branch. Not kowtow to them, but not demonize them either. Exactly what he should be doing. Another of the many reasons Deval Patrick will make an excellent governor.
From a Scot Lehigh column over a year ago:
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Looks to me like that’s exactly what he’s doing. I love Adam as much as the next blogger (in a very heterosexual way, of course), but he’s off base on this one.
First, it is exactly correct to expect that the press will make such issues from little to nothing. Our big story right now is the governor’s race, and it ain’t much of a race just yet. Once the Mihos debate hilarity died down, what else is there to report…A 30-plus lead in the polls? Not a great story…
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This is a no-win, plain and simple. If Patrick meets with the powers-that-be, you get this. If he doesn’t, he’s a maverick, an arrogant outsider, blah. Fact is… When you lead big, those not only who oppose you overtly but those who wish to report a tighter race and take advantage of the increased media interest will come out of the woodwork and make issues of anything and everything.
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But let’s talk Beacon Hill. When Patrick has spouted his ‘rhetoric’ during his primary acceptance speech and at other times, it did serve a purpose. It’s a notification that the worst of Lege nonsense will not go uncriticized. But we all know that realistically, the Legislature must be respected. Kerry Healey isn’t capable of this, and will be as successful on veto duty as Mitt was, maybe less.
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There is a balance to strike as an effective governor. The major aspects of this will be fear and respect. Patrick is the guy who can command both aspects.
..He will conspire with them.
There was an article in today’s Boston Globe about this.
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I suppose that, in order to effectively counter the culture of Beacon Hill, he must part woo them and part cow them, lest he wind up with bootprints on his face as Romney has.
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But this quote is neither encoraging nor heartening:
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Besides, everybody runs against us," Morrissey said.What’s the difference? Who wants to ally themselves with the Legislature? Everyone likes us in our district, but we’re hated as a group. I’d rather have him say the truth.”<
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There is a downside to all of the unity breakfast kissy face, and that downside is that it tends to make David’s “DP would be better positioned to rein in the legislature” argument look like thin soup.
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I suspect we will be hearing more of this.
I agree that Rubin’s quote was not the best. He should have said he’ll maintain his independence, but he’s got to talk with people to change the culture. Rubin’s quote left the impression there was a contradiction, which I don’t necessarily see.
The mere primary NUMBERS that Deval crushed his opponants who outspent him (in a high turnout assumed to help those opponants) are danmed effective at allowing Deval his independence. That’s called political capital, something Bush pretended he had and Deval really does.
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Everyone’s sucking up to Deval, like my own legislators (minus Nangle AFAIK, surprise surprise), and well they should. And once elected, when Deval says “don’t DO that hacky thing, Trav!” Trav had better, in his own best freaking interest, say, “Sir! No sir!”
Is it that out of the question for a candidate for Governor of any party to meet with or speak with other elected officials??
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They can meet with business leaders, health care professionals, law enforcement but not with Legislators? This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard.
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Has Kerry Healey ever met with Sal or Trav? I would be surprised if the answer was no.
It’s easy for the press to pounce on – they feel an obligation to go after him now because he has a big lead.
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But it should also be an easy one for Patrick – general rule here, best to take the head-on approach.
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“Sure I met with them, I want to follow the example of Bill Weld – he knew both how to say ‘no’ to the Legislature and how to work with them to move his agenda forward – that’s exactly what I’m going to do to be an effective Governor for the people of Massachusetts.”
I also respect Adam, but as I said in his comments, I was insulted by his post. It was beneath him. He should know much better than that – he’s much too smart to fall into that silly trap, and then to make assumptions about Deval-supporting bloggers…grrr.
As governor, sure Deval has to meet with the legislators. All the time. He has to carry on as a leader should. He should start that the day after the primary in fact. But now? This week? Does anyone really believe this is what, Deval, JW or Doug Rubin really wanted? “Hey, I got a good idea. Let’s begin to make nice with the Beacon Hill insiders that we’ve been bashing for 18 months, so that things are smooth sailing when we get to work in January. Hell we have to work with them anyway. Everyone understands that if we’re going to lead like we say we’re going to lead, we have to deal with these guys or we’ll end up like Mitt.”
You better damn well hope a conversation like that didn’t happen, because if this is what passes for campaign strategy it’s time to order the Governor Healey stationary.
My guess: most of the legislature sees its salad days disappearing in the rearview mirror. They keep hearing about cleaning up the mess on Beacon Hill and making the insiders squeal like pigs when their pet projects are met with less favor than they were with Mitt. So they call Sal and Trav and tell them to bring Deval in line. Enough of that stuff, he won the primary, what the hell does he want? Sal and Trav consider the rabble’s hysteria and figure it’s in everyone’s best interest if Deval gets a little straight talk. He needs our money and juice, so let’s invite him to lunch. But Deval demurs. Not only do I not want your money or your juice. I don’t want to be mentioned in the same sentence as you guys.
Hmmm, what to do now. Let’s try this, “Hey Deval, how about reconsidering. You know, we’ve had this on-again off-again plan to bring the Great and General Court back into formal session to pass the bond authorization bill. And funny thing about having 198 other members, they all have some pet bills they’d like to bring up in the session, it bein’ an election year and all. And I’d say that if we open it up a bit, we could basically blow a hole in that extra ‘billion dollars’ that Reilly says we have. Imagine how Healey might play it if your buddies in the legislature, oh say two or three weeks before the election, decide to pay for things like new town swingsets in Newton. Oh, and just to see if your paying attention, take a look at the week of October 21st, 2002. Shannon O’Brien was thinking about becoming Governor and Romney was trying to wrap the insiders on Beacon Hill around her neck and light us on fire. Guess how the legislature responded. We decided to elect her first lt.’s brother (that would be me) the next Senate Prez. We couldn’t have been more surprised at how the media and Romney, and eventually the voters, responded. Oh well. See you Tuesday.”
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Anyway you cut it, and Charlie, you cut it pretty thin, this isn’t positive. Deval has to work with the legislature and the leadership and when the time comes, I have every confidence he’ll do it well. But now is not the time. And if I were us (BMG) I wouldn’t blow this off either.
This was a power play by the legislature to get Deval under their collective thumb? Fascinating. And I don’t think that works out this time. Romney was in a much better better position in 2002 than Healey now. And Patrick is in a way better position now than O’Brien then.
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If your narrative is really what they’re doing, that’s very interesting indeed, but I don’t think it works — and partly because I can’t really see how Healey takes advantage of it properly; see David’s post.
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And if the legislature reconvenes and passes a bunch of pork, so much the better for Patrick, politically: it’s a perfect opening for Patrick to continue to get some daylight between him and them — which is already considerable. I bet he’ll do it, too.
Fascinating? Interesting? I’m awaiting something about being a “conspiracy theorist”. I’ll hold my breath.
I share Adam Reilly’s concern for our willingness to defend something that seems so ill-advised. What does Deval have to gain by meeting with the pols? Why would a campaign based on his leadership potential and outsider status meet with those perceived by the electorate to be power-hungry, insiders who require someone, anyone to act as a speed bump, even if it’s a paper tiger.
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I think the electorate has little time or patience for what Kerry Healey is pushing and they have even less confidence in her. But they know one thing, she doesn’t have a D after her name. As I’ve said from the beginning of this campaign, this election isn’t about Kerry Healey. This is about Beacon Hill and the ability of the Dem candidate to sufficiently separate himself in the eyes of electorate. Kerry Healey could head to Florida or Vermont for the whole campaign and her numbers wouldn’t change. This is about Deval and how the public perceives his relationship with Beacon Hill.
Tha campaign knows this, so why would they meet with the Beacon Hill leadership 5 weeks before the election? No one has answered that question. It sure as hell isn’t to develop a working relationship when Deval wins. So what is it? Either Deval wanted to sit down at this meeting or the leadership made him. Which is it?