Unbelievable. Another blatantly political lame duck appointment from Romney, who pledged only four short years ago to stop playing ‘politics as usual’ on Beacon Hill. This appointment from the same Romney who castigated Acting Governor Jane Swift for making a whole bunch of lame duck appointments as he was preparing to take over in 2003.
The really sad thing about this fiasco is that this appointment comes to a board that will be key to an issue that Deval Patrick has said that he plans to focus on come January. The Globe article reports that “Patrick, who supports a wide range of embryonic stem cell research, sees biotechnology as an important economic driver”.
Romney’s lame duck appointment of Aaron D’Elia, who has no professional background or credentials in science or technology, was appointed without any kind of search, and he shares Romney’s opposition to human embryonic stem cell research.
The faster Romney gets out of Massachusetts, as far as I’m concerned, the better.
More from the Globe:
“By controlling the board and the executive director’s appointment, Romney could ensure that Massachusetts doesn’t embarrass him, as he begins his presidential campaign”
I’m not too keen on this avenue of inquiry. There are “hacks” in every administration. Remember, that was even a big complaint against the Dukakis administration.
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Patrick should complain: Putting a hack like D’Elia in this position is a missed opportunity for longterm economic growth. While someone with a history degree might be able to do the job, someone with a bioscience background would have the better skill set to anticipate which science initiatives are most promising.
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Let’s hope the Globe and Herald keep an eye on this guy and Romney’s other late appointments. I have a feeling they might have something in common with Romney’s old Director of Labor.
I fail to see how Patrick or any of his associates and/or representatives complaining about Romney’s lame duck appointments will add any value to the early days of the Patrick administration. It only serves to make Patrick look like a partisan quibbler. He should just smile, accept that he has no control over Romney’s late term choices and swiftly move to make whatever changes he can when he gets in office. The ‘Romney complained about Swift so I get to complain about Romney’ argument is weak. I hope the next 5 weeks are not a Romney bashing party for the Patrick camp because this seems petty to me.
Romney promised a smooth transition and pledged his complete cooperation the day after the election. This is not a matter of partisan quibbling…this is an attempt by a lame-duck Governor to reward a crony and to tie his successor’s hands in an important policy area.
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Romney has tried to sell himself for the past four years as a no-nonsense administrator who is above such hackery. He screamed bloody murder over Jane Swift’s lame duck appointments. This appointment shows his complete and utter hypocrisy.
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My personal opinion is that he realizes that Patrick is on the verge of something big, of really changing things on Beacon Hill, effecting some of the kinds of changes that Romney promised but could not deliver. And Romney’s going to do what he can to try and prevent that from happening so that he doesn’t look ineffective by comparison.
For Romney to think that Patrick is the verge of something big is to assume that Romney has a high opinion of Patrick’s leadership.
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And Romney only has a high opinion of Romney’s leadership. And Romney knows that Romney is such a great leader, it is only right for him to reward his friends with fat paychecks from the Mass taxpayers.
but how does the Patrick camp calling Romney out on this help Patrick? It doesn’t. Just because someone expresses something that they think is right doesn’t mean they have done the right thing. I voted happily and whole heartedly for Patrick and this makes him look a little petty in my eyes because it accomplishes nothing and is facially partisan. I know I am not the only one who feels this way. His dignified approach has gotten him far, he should stick with it.
it’s a Bush-style thumb in the eye to Patrick and those who share his values.
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It’s also unbelievably petty and shortsighted. I wonder what Willard feels he gains by such a move.
Is that guy, Chris Gabrieli, up for a new job?
Sounds like this would be a great part time position for him.
n/t