I’ve stated my immediate objections to Patrick’s phone call: I think it’s an improper use of the Governor’s time, reputation and authority of office. But there’s some subtext to this that I think may not be apparent. One of the reasons why this set me off is because it seemed like another example of corporate access and influence over policymakers, potentially at the expense of serving the electorate at large. Needless to say, this is hardly a problem confined to our governor — in fact, it would seem by his policy actions so far that he feels less beholden to corporate interests.
An example: I was floored and amused by Jay’s fatuous comment of a couple of days ago, in objecting to raising corporate taxes/closing loopholes, what have you: “Why did he do this? Because he needed cash fast and corporations don’t vote.” Got that? That’s just an unbelievable gloss on the immense power that corporate lobbies wield in ramming through legislation. For example, the piddling $295 assessment for uninsuring employers in last year’s health care debate, thereby putting much more onus on employees and the state, was corporate influence run hog-wild. One for you, ten for me. And let’s not even get into the US Congress.
Right now all eyes are on the Governor, for better or worse. But we need to hold everyone to a better standard when it comes to doing favors for powerful corporate interests. Surely if the Ameriquest call is a big story, there must be even more appalling stories going unwritten in the legislature every single day. I do hope the local media will pursue those with the same or more vigor than that with which they pursue a freshman governor — who after all was not making actual state policy with his phone call. (Hey, Travaglini spends a lot of time on the phone; who’s he talking to right now?)
… And we need a return of Clean Elections. But that’s for another day.
It’s day 3, and we’re still talking about it. I was at a “Kitchen Cabinet” meeting last night, and people were still talking about it there. The administration has an important, and ambitious, budget to shepard through the legislature… and this is what people are talking about. So, not only was the call dumb, it’s unbelievably distracting.
because otehr people engage in wrongdoing.
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Pointing fingers at others does not excuse Patrick for what he did. Sorry that is not going to work at all.
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Patrick was a complete unknown that got elected. Now we find out he thought we gave him a blank check to misuse the office for private gain. gee
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I am particularly concerned because democrats put in a lot of unknowns across the country and we have no idea where they stand nor really have engaged in a political fight in which they were left standing. So Patrick has had a half a dozen tests and failed each one of them.
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This is 9 weeks into a term and his response to legitimate oppositon is to say what?
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this is a governorship and we need to make a decision about this guy before the commonwealth needs leadership from the office. Anything could happen in the next 4 years.
That might be coherent in radio-never-never-land, but it really makes no sense. Clarify private gain, what private gain? Please don’t make something up and pass it off as fact, give me something specific, better yet possible a quote or research.
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I would honestly be interested to see it.
brain hurts when you read. You should not be playing on
this blog if you have no reading comprehension above the third grade. Please there are blogs for you but this is not one of them. call your mommy and shoo
When I was in college, some friends and I enjoyed listening to the Spice Girls. “It’s so bad, it’s good,” we used to say.
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I feel the same way about Publicola posts (and Ron Borges columns). So bad, they’re actually entertaining.
at least if you’re going to insult someone, do a little double entendre or back it up. The post of yours in question was incoherent. Now, anyone can be incoherent at times. Especially when I write at night, sometimes I’ll go back and read something I wrote later and just say “what was I thinking?!” Everyone does it, so you shouldn’t be so offended as to have to lash out at someone who criticizes a particular posting. No one is perfect, least of all BMG’s new rightwing zealot.
…As far as I can tell the whole dust-up is a tempest in the proverbial teapot. A telephone call on behalf of a former colleage (at ACC Holdings, parent of Ameriquest), where DP was on the board, to someone who was probably a former colleage. Recall that the telephone call was to Robert Rubin, who, like DP, was an official in the Clinton administration.
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I seriously do not understand what the issue is. And I’m not even a Democrat.
One could argue that Deval wanted to sport around town in a New Caddy instead of a New Crown Vic like so many gov in the past. Both cars get you from A to B but the Caddy gets you there with a certain aristocratic style.
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I think the “unprecedented” Caddy purchase is a great example of the rookie Gov misusing the Gov Office for private gain.
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I’m sure everyone in politics would love a Pimped out ride at the taxpayers expense.
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You mean like every corporate CEO taking advantage of tax loopholes?
or are you generalizing. and not using facts to support your statements 🙂
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SMILE 🙂
is Rush over yet?
Have a cup of strong black coffee and remember to proofread before posting.
oh, it is just empty air….
is not age discrimination, after all.
Do not get on Steverino’s bad side.
Even assuming any of the rest of your comment made any sense (which it does, but only in a grammatical sense), what caught my eye was, “we need to make a decision about [Deval] before the commonwealth needs leadership from the office”.
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Uh, we made a decision. Last November. The 7th, I think it was; it was certainly a Tuesday. Nice weather, that I do remember. But we made a decision then. There’s no other decision you could possibly make now that would change that.
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So, what the heck are you talking about?
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Oh, and you might want to check your dictionary for the definition of “complete” and “unknown”. I don’t think they mean what you think they mean, as Patrick was not a complete unknown — he did a lot of work in the Federal Justice Department. And while it’s true that some “unknowns” got elected in November, it’s not that many. I challenge you to name 5.
Reminds me of some old star trek episode where the robot self-destructs from some kind of impossible logic question.