Blue Mass Group

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Wallace-Benjamin Out as COS; Rubin In

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WALLACE-BENJAMIN OUT, RUBIN IN AS TOP PATRICK AIDE: Doug Rubin will replace Joan Wallace-Benjamin as Gov. Deval Patrick’s chief of staff, said a source who has been briefed on the change. A Patrick spokesman declined immediate comment. Rubin was a top architect of Patrick’s winning gubernatorial campaign and has remained a top adviser to the governor, but been publicly vague amidst much speculation about his career plans. Wallace-Benjamin is expected to return to her post at the Home for Little Wanderers.

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  1. Quick question, where exactly does his campaign end and governorship begin, and vice-versa?

    • because people who serve on campaigns never end up taking high-ranking administration positions.

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      One of your lamest yet, EaBo.

      • has blurred the line between his campaign and his official office over the past months.  With Deval Patrick.com acting as an “official home page of Governor Deval Patrick” and using campaign expenditures to help run the government through so-called civic engagement.

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        Yes campaign people end up in the governors office, even at high levels all across this country.  However I don’t know of one governor that has blurred the line between the two as much as Governor Patrick. 

        • Needless to say, you have no evidence of that.  Zero.  So stop making shit up.

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          And I’d be curious as to the source of your encyclopedic knowledge of the practices of the 49 other governors and the operations of their political committees.  Again, SMSU.

          • Article from the Globe

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            “Governing is about power,” Patrick said. “And my power has never come from the insiders with connections and the powerful special interests. My power comes from you. Own it.”

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            This was at the launch of DP.com.  He was asking those in attendence to help him govern, through civic engagement.  That was the whole premise behind DevalPatrick.com.  So I’m not making excrement up. 

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            To afertig.  It’s all connected.  I don’t put my thoughts in silo’s. 

          • Here

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            f Gov. Deval Patrick wants to use the Web as a governing tool, as his supporters say, then shouldn’t he be doing it here? Why should we look at the soon-to-be-unveiled DevalPatrick.com site as anything other than part of his permanent campaign?

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            or how about here

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            Dan asks a good question: why not just use mass.gov, the official state site which has become more user-friendly since Mitt officially blew town.

            Simple answer: the taxpayer-funded site is not an appropriate place to have what we hope will be a civil discussion about issues. Patrick’s official home page is everything you would expect there: the official PR viewpoint (although there is a “Tell Us Your Story”) page too.

            It was inevitable the Globe would characterize the unveiling of the site as a town hall meeting cum political rally. There certainly was that element to the gathering. But the message he delivered was hardly all self-congratulatory.

            “Governing is about power,” Patrick said. “And my power has never come from the insiders with connections and the powerful special interests. My power comes from you. Own it.”

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            Or how about here

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            The vision is not enough to govern. He needs us to govern. Passive citizenship doesn’t work to make the vision real. He needs to make a daily claim on your citizenship. “You want lower property taxes, come and get them.” That means that we have to engage our reps and senators and tell them that we are behind his proposals. “You want more cops, after school programs? Come and get them!” Tell your reps and senators that you support the measures. When there’s a hearing, Show Up.

            “Governing is about power. My power has never come from insiders with connections. My power comes from you. Own it.”

            To enable that kind of engagment, our committee is working on two things — a series of town hall meetings so that people can offer their ideas and put their questions to him. Bring your problems and your solutions. We’ll be doing this all over the state, so every community can be heard.

            Second, is the redesign of devalpatrick.com. It’s not just prettying up the website. It’s unlike any other website he’s heard of, and it’s about to change the way we govern. Gives any MA citizen to engage directly with the governor and vice versa. Everyone should have access to the governor, not just people with insider connections. It’s also a way for people to connect with eachother. You can find and create communities of interest — organize around issues or communites. He needs to know what we care about, and what we’re willing to fight for. We need to know when he needs us to show up on Beacon Hill to press our agenda. That’s what citizenship is all about, and it’s what our government should be all about. Real change begins at the grassroots.

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            No, nope, not using DP.com to help govern.  Not at all.

            • What really terrifies you, EaBo, is that what Deval Patrick talked about throughout the entire campaign might actually work.

              • Let’s go back to your original point.  He is not using his campaign to help him govern.  Are you ready to concede that?

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                Now in Massachusetts that is legal, for instance state reps can use their campaign accounts to open up district offices, however for you to vehemently say it wasn’t happening is somewhat disingeneous.

        • You’re not always trollish, sometimes you actually have an interesting opinion or two. But, come on. We’ve had this debate before and this comment is not connected to the news of a changing Chief of Staff.

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