Blue Mass Group

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Serious Question About Deval

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There seems to be a lot of soul searching regarding Deval Patrick here at BMG over the past week.  I have a serious question that I asked in the EBIII thread about King Deval.  The question in response to this comment was:

Can I ask you a serious question.  (0.00 / 0)

As Deval himself said, he’s gonna make mistakes.

All I’ve seen are mistakes.  He has been in office for 10 full months.  What has he done right in your opinion?

I’ll expand the question.  Can you name one concrete success from the first 1/4 of Deval Patrick’s term as Governor?  What is it?

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  1. But, just for laughs, I’ll play along.  Sure — getting two chunks of the municipal partnership act enacted was a success, and not a trivial one.

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    He’s filed major legislation in several areas.  The lege isn’t moving.  Only so much that can be done about that.

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    By the way, what’s your view on casinos?  Do you think Deval is right on that issue?  I predict no response, since my theory is that you guys will never give Deval credit for anything, even when you think he’s right on an issue.  Prove me wrong, I dare ya!

    • Deval has to share some of the blame. Why can’t he convince them to do anything? That is part of the job descrtiption. To work WITH the legislature.
      Maybe Deval is just a lousy governor?
      Ormaybe we can all throw our hands up and blame the legislature for all of Deval’s failings.

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      No matter the cause, it still makes Deval a failure.

      • Why Isn’t the Legislature Moving? (3.00 / 3)

        Deval has to share some of the blame. Why can’t he convince them to do anything? That is part of the job descrtiption. To work WITH the legislature.
        Maybe Deval is just a lousy governor?emph mine -petr
        Ormaybe we can all throw our hands up and blame the legislature for all of Deval’s failings.

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        Funny how I never saw such itchy trigger fingers during the manifest failure that was the Weld-Celluci-Swift govern-not-ship… Indeed, by this point, in his first full term, Celluci was packing his bags for Canada…  Nor have I heard such carping when Romney was vainly searching for the rudder.  I did, however, see the lege stepping up to fill the power vacuum… probly kept the state functioning and for that I thank them. Now, however, we have a real executive, who’s truly interested in the job, and we’re going to have to get things done.  Memo to the lege: legislate and let Deval be governor…

        • The simple fact is that the governor of Massachusetts is not a powerful executive and gets things done only at the pleasure of one or two powerful individuals in the legislature.

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          This is why the “absentee Romney” charge is utterly absurd.  The governor could live his entire term on a desert island with no phones,and, as long as there are no blizzards requiring reassuring statements to be made while wearing a sweater in Framingham, no one would notice.

          • This is why the “absentee Romney” charge is utterly absurd.  The governor could live his entire term on a desert island with no phones,and, as long as there are no blizzards requiring reassuring statements to be made while wearing a sweater in Framingham, no one would notice.

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            Sorry to interrupt you mid-froth, but you should go outside and spit. This will untangle your tongue and allow you to speak more clearly…

    • I have no clue where EaBo stands on casinos, btw.

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      I’m not wild about casinos, but recognize that we are exporting money hand over fist to CT.  However, I do think Deval’s 3-casino plan is doomed to fail.  It brings too many resort style establishments on line at the same time; Mohegan Sun wasn’t constructed until Foxwoods was over 10 years old and had a well established base.  How will the three-fold plan be done?  Worcester first?  New Bedford first?  Because the first stands the best chance of success.  As I have said before, it is a political solution to an economic problem.

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      Deval COULD have taken the 25% from the Indian casino, and legalized slots at the racetracks.  It would have been a smaller initial payout, but more stable in the long run, as the COMMONWEALTH wouldn’t be assuming the risk, but was guaranteed a share of the reward.  Now, the Indians can proceed, and pay the state nada.

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      The GIC buy-in is good where it works – there is a myth that GIC is cheapest, and in some areas, it isn’t (Cape Cod being one of them).

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      But David – style can sometimes cripple.  At this point in his first year, Mitt had succeeded in eliminating the epicenter of the hackarma, the MDC.  So it CAN be done.  Deval’s style with the Legislature has sometimes been needlessly confrontational.

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      Hey!  Greg Watson was in Hyannis last night at the Cape Wind Annual Meeting!  RIGHT THERE, Deval could have a victory by having the EFSB override the Cape Cod Commission on the transit line.  Stroke of the pen stuff – why not get a solid, ‘renewable’ victory in his first year, esp. since most recent polling says 61% of CAPE CODDERS (previous polls had been state wide, but had even higher approval) support the wind farm?

            • The Tribe has or its agents have acquired or will acquire land and options to acquire land in the Town (the “Project Site”) in the area depicted in Exhibit A.

              The Tribe plans to have that land acquired by the United States to be held in trust for the Tribe to enable the Tribe to develop a Class II and/or Class III gaming casino pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq. (“IGRA”), including hotel and ancillary facilities on the land, and the Town agrees to submit a letter to the United States Department of the Interior in support of the Tribe’s petition to place the land into trust in form and content mutually acceptable to the Tribe and the Town.

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              Link

            • Slots at racetracks are the worst gambling option for many reasons, including:

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              1. It will silence a grassroots effort aimed at ending commercial dog racing.

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              2. It would allow a full-blown tribal casino, but would prevent the state from negotiating a revenue sharing agreement with the tribe.  According to the Dept. of Interior, the BIA will only approve revenue sharing agreements that give tribes some form of “exclusivity” in terms of gambling rights.  For example, the CT tribes share money with the state because they have been given the exclusive right to operate slot machines.  In short, we would get a tribal casino that is tax-free.

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              3. It would enrich a small handful of already-wealthy racetrack owners.

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              4. Of all the gambling proposals, slots at racetracks creates the highest costs (addiction, bankruptcy, crime and corruption) while realizing the lowest return in terms of economic development.

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              No reasonable person who looked at this issue would recommend slots at racetracks as the best approach.

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              The argument in favor of slots at racetracks boils down to something like: the tracks have been here for a long time, are big campaign contributors, and it would be unfair for them to be left out.

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              Yours,
              Carey Theil

              • Actually I am a very reasonable person and I support slots at the track because of the economics of keeping jobs in the Commonwealth.

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                1. Not much of a grassroots effort if it can be silenced so easily. Voters rejected an earlier ballot question aimed at closing commercial dog tracks – in part because the question left thousands without jobs. The AG rejected as misleading the last attempt to put this on the ballot.

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                2. Is actually a valid point.  It needs to be addressed but isn’t an arguement for not allowing slots – its an case for having a legislative plan.

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                3. The attack the rich ploy. Yes, in fact a small number of rich people own tracks. So to spite them, let’s put thousands of middle income workers employed at tracks out of jobs.

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                4. Are slots at the tracks responsible for Katrina and the Calf wild fires too?

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                The reality is that the Commonwealth gains revenue from slots and/or gaming. State government has sin taxes on alcohol and smoking – similar revenue streams for slots(be it Suffolk Downs or the dog tracks) that fund municipal and state services are needed. As are the jobs tracks create.

                • First of all, a previous ballot question to phase out commercial dog racing was defeated 51% to 49% in one of the closest statewide elections in Massachusetts history.  Even though it lost, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the dog racing industry.

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                  Second, your claim that the “AG rejected as misleading the last attempt to put this on the ballot” is simply false.

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                  In 2005, a proposed ballot question to protect dogs was APPROVED by the AG as constitutional, but later struck down by the Supreme Judicial Court.  This ballot question would have phased out commercial dog racing, strengthened laws against dogfighting, and increased penalties for harming service dogs.

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                  The MA Constitution allows ballot questions that contain multiple subjects as long as the subjects are “related” to each other.

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                  In striking down that question, the SJC ruled that dog racing, dogfighting and service dog protections were not “related” enough to appear in the same question.  Specifically, they ruled that laws on dogfighting and service dogs were about animal welfare, but a law phasing out dog racing is about commerce.  In other words, the SJC greyhounds aren’t like other dogs.

    • Despite the title, this wasn’t a serious question. Just like Ogonowski wasn’t a serious candidate, and just like the Massachusetts conservative movement isn’t a serious opposition. In fact, so far as I can tell, Peter Porcupine, Gary and perhaps a few others are the only serious i.e. reasoned and constructive conservative voices in the Massachusetts blogosphere. The rest are just bomb throwers, to use Papa Bear Bill O’Reilly’s description. It’s a damn shame. Massachusetts desperately needs an effective opposition — the legislature in particular. History shows that one party rule is a corrupting cancer in any society. Since Red Mass Group and the Republicans have punted in this state, as EaBo and others have repeatedly demonstrated, and their non-existent traffic underlines, the progressives are just going to have to be the ones to push the Democratic party out of complacency and into meaningful reform. That’s a worthy challenge.

    • I voted for Patrick — bumper sticker for him is still on one of our cars.

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      I haven’t seen much out of him — at least not much that’s been making the news or even the political blogs.

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      No, I don’t expect miracles.  But I do expect his leadership on something.

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      It doesn’t help that I’m against Casinos — it means that his major initiative of the past few months, I’m against.

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      Only thing I’ve seen out of him lately that I’ve liked is his strong backing of Barack Obama.

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      So, yes, this core supporter would like to see more.  I know he can’t achieve much without the legislature, but he can give speeches to try to encourage awareness and get the process moving.  Cape Wind.  Health Care.  Municiple Finance. 

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      I’ll like some public, active leadership on anything!

      • The administration is moving on health care, but they’re in a difficult (impossible?) position trying to make the personal mandate work, and what they are able to accomplish is really unglamorous stuff. But if you read the Healthy Blog or WBUR’s Commonhealth, you’ll get a good idea of how this stuff stumbles along. (And I post fairly regularly on this, too.)

    • Partnership Act did Deval get through, specifics please.  What did the two parts do?  Is GIC one?  That was a Kerry Healey Idea from the campaign. I’m glad Deval started down the path, but it was her idea.

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      Proposing legislation does not equal concrete steps.

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      Where am I on casinos?  I am for a slot machine on every corner and a blackjack table at every bar.tm  I am for the Commonwealth to get out of my pocketbook and allow me to do with my money as I please.  Deval’s start is just that a start.  I’ve also publicly stated my support for the Lottery to add a sportsbook to the lottery.  The US government be damned.  Their anti sportsbook law of 1992 is in my opinion and the opinion of the Justice Department at the time an unconstitutional infringement on state’s rights. 

      • The idea was actually a bill that was filed two years ago by Rep. Rachel Kaprielian who chaired a taks force during that time. The Governor included her bill as part of his “municipal relief pkg.”

        • theme in her campaign. Deval wasn’t even talking about this during the campaign. 

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          From her 50 Point Plan

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          21. Lower health care insurance costs for cities and towns by allowing them to purchase coverage through the state.

          Municipal budgets are feeling the squeeze of higher costs, forcing our communities to choose between two difficult options – higher property taxes or reductions in local services. One of the main drivers of local costs is the dramatic increase in health care insurance premiums for municipal employees. Over the last four years, the cost of health care insurance in our cities and towns has risen 63 percent, four times the growth of local budgets.

          Legislation is currently under negotiation that would allow cities and towns to join the state Group Insurance Commission, thereby eliminating duplicative administrative costs at the local level, and allowing state negotiators to push for
          lower prices as risk is spread across a larger pool of employees. The state system has done a good job controlling its health care spending over the last four years, with costs rising at half the rate of municipalities’ over the same period. If implemented, the result is likely millions of dollars in annual cost savings for local taxpayers without any negative impact on the quality or access to health care for municipal employees. Those are real and immediate savings that can be used to lower property taxes, hire additional teachers, police and firefighters and fund important local capital projects.

  2. I suppose you think this is a mistake?

     GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES ADVANCED ENERGY TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP

    In January, Governor Patrick and Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles met with Massachusetts climate scientists and Massachusetts–based energy companies on the challenge of building a clean energy future and addressing global climate change. At that meeting, the Governor encouraged the CEOs of GreatPoint and Dominion to collaborate on two projects with the help of Secretary Bowles.  Now Dominion and GreatPoint are embarking on a new endeavor, testing GreatPoint’s pioneering natural gas conversion process, which transforms coal and other feedstocks into clean-burning methane and a stream of pure carbon dioxide to turn into energy, using Dominion’s Brayton Point facility as its proving ground.

     

     

    I especially like the first two words “In January”.  While the media fools were digging into the Caddy and the drapes, your Governor was actually doing his job.

    • All my enviro-activist friends tell me that until the coal mining process changes, i.e., no more strip mining, desloated landscapes, people dying in tunnels, etc., there really IS no clean coal.

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      They are wind and solar advocates, mainly; but will Dominion and Great Point work to support wind as well?

      • will continue to be used.  so making the combustion of the stuff cleaner is a practical improvement.  like it or not, most of us use coal-produced energy or the products it was used to manufacture every day.

        • You are absolutely correct that coal will  increasingly be used as the supply of oil is diminished.  Coal liquefaction and coal gassification, and residue from coal that can be used in plastics, etc.

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          It is not economically efficient now but as oil is harder to find, it will become more so.  So, if we want to make it less environmentally damaging, we need to do more to do research to figure out ways to minimize the damage.

      • There is such a thing as cleaner coal, and in the future we will be seeing improvements over and above the current technology.  Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of coal, but this thread is about the work that the current administration has done in the first few months of their tenure, and this particular piece of news was quite relevant.

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        As an aside:  Rest assured Peter, the Governor fully supports Cape Wind.  I have no doubt that he will be a strong advocate for many alternative and renewable energy projects. 

      • LaRall – Is there really such a thing as ‘clean’ coal? (0.00 / 0)

        All my enviro-activist friends tell me that until the coal mining process changes, i.e., no more strip mining, desloated landscapes, people dying in tunnels, etc., there really IS no clean coal.

        They are wind and solar advocates, mainly; but will Dominion and Great Point work to support wind as well?

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        You shouldn’t go offtopic like this… You risk the accusation that you are criticizing the Governor for ‘not getting anything done’ (the topic) while simultaneously criticizing what the Governor has done (your post)… 

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        I just know you don’t wish to look that foolish. Hey, I’m jus’ looking out for ya, bud.

      • What did DP do to beat the drum for the Nantucket Wind Farm? As far as I can see he did nothing—-well except kiss Ted’s backside and give the wind farm the velvet knife.
        Patrick does an awful lot of talking. Where is the fruition?

        • He backed it early on, even though Ted K opposed (and still opposes) it.  How that qualifies as “kissing Ted’s backside” is beyond me.  He’s consistently spoken out in favor of it.  You’re way off base on this one.

    • Did he make this happen? Or was it going to happen anyway and he showed up at the press conference to highlight Massachusetts companies working towards environmental solutions.  Was he a cheerleader or instrumental to the process? 

      • Can you answer the question Catnip? It is a legitimate question.  Politicians of all stripes try to take credit for private sector initiatives all the time.

        • this is a reasonable request from most anyone but EaBo, king of running away from difficult questions.  carry on!

        • …do as I say, don’t do as I do. Eabo, you are the most notorious cut-and-run commenter here. If the editors charged you a dime for every time you fail to respond, they’d be rich. I’ve always wondered why you avoid challenging comments that reply or address you directly. Hmm….

  3. By refusing to use MA resources to enforce federal immigration law.  It’s allowed for local and state police to focus on tackling real crime instead of the crime of working for a better life.

    • murdered in broad daylight last week less than 2 miles from Deval’s office.
      It’s “murder du jour” in Boston and Deval has done…Nada.
      Safer? you must be joking.

      • you should ask Peter Porcupine about that, who would no doubt respond roughly as follows:

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        Crime isn’t the Governor’s responsibility — it’s a local issue, so the Romney/Healey administration can’t be faulted for what happened over the last several years.  Oh, wait, you mean crime since January, 2007?  IT’S DEVAL’S FAULT!!

        • I think its outrageous that people are being murdered almost daily within earshot (gunshot) of Deval’s office and he’s done NOTHING about it. He even had a friggin bullet go through the State House window. How outrageous is that? And people are posting about how safe Mass is? You must be joking.

          • David is merely manufacturing quotes, giving them the appearance of validity by putting them in a quote box, and craftily saying that it’s what he imagines I would say, in order to avaoid criticism about putting specious words in another’s mouth.

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            Nice.

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            I have never treated him like that.

            • Oh for God’s sake, grow a sense of humor, willya?  The humor deficit is one of conservatives’ most annoying features.  Obviously you didn’t say what I put in blockquotes, hence my “crafty” statement that you “would” say such a thing.  (Never mind that in substance it’s on all fours with what you have said elsewhere in this thread.)  For the record, I hereby issue a heartfelt and abject apology to anyone silly enough to think that you actually said what I put in blockquotes.

            • Menino has already proven he’s incompetent and can’t handle the situation.  How many more murders are needed before SOMEONE does SOMETHING? Absolutely outrageous.

              • Meant to say Menino repeatedly refused the help of State Police from Romney until June of 2006 when it became politically unbearable for him to continue.

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                Mayor Thomas M. Menino, amid an outcry from Boston city councilors and community leaders, said yesterday that he will accept an offer from Governor Mitt Romney to loan state troopers to Boston for special operations this summer.

                Romney had offered the use of State Police as Boston’s understaffed police force battles a wave of crime and heads into a summer that some fear will be the bloodiest in years. On Thursday, Menino said he had decided to refuse the help, largely because Boston’s powerful police unions would oppose it.

                But the mayor came under a firestorm of criticism yesterday, with city councilors and residents of some of the city’s hardest-hit areas accusing him of letting politics interfere with the well-being of the neighborhoods.

    • And who will reign in the State Police salaries? Romney didn’t, Healey and Hillman wouldn’t have….will Patrick?

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      The State Police Union owns at least two branches of government in MA.

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      Paranoia setting in….feeling like this post will get checked by big brother.

      • If you are going to adopt my verbiage such as This statement is a joke—-right? it is incumbent on you to even try to explain why you believe that the statement is a joke. 

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        If you pay attention, virtually every time that I make such as comment, I have made an effort to explain why I believed that the statement was a joke, silly, nonsense, idiotic or whatever. 

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        You may really consider making an effort to do the same.

  4. Charley already listed marriage equality above, but this is important enough to reemphasize here.  Deval did something unprecedented.  He campaigned as a pro-equality candidate absolutely unwilling to compromise.  as far as i am aware, he is the first and only gubernatorial candidate to do this.  he showed that taking a firm stand for equality is not only the right thing to do, but a winner.

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    then, he followed through on his campaign rhetoric and joined forces that were successful in insuring that marriage equality has a permanent home in MA.

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    that’s two major accomplishments.

    • This is touted as a glorious accomplishment (endlessly) by those who benefited from it.Great.  The point is that this is a very,very  small percentage of the 6.4 million Mass residents. So for the vast majority, it’s a non event. So the question becomes. What have you done for the rest of us Deval?
      We’re still waiting on the property tax relief you PROMISED us.
      We’re waiting for those 1000 cops you PROMISED to show up and stop the murders in broad daylight on our city streets.
      These are the issues that are important to the majority of people.

      • for asking us to list Gov. Patrick’s accomplishments.  Marriage equality = 2 accomplishments.  Your rant is irrelevant to the subject of the diary.

        • Why is anything in the “I don’t want to hear it” category immediately described as a rant? Your intolerance of dissenting opinion is irrelevant to the subject.

        • same sex marriage. But how is it two accomplishments?  And what exactly did he promise to get those votes to switch?

      • I’m straight and have been married for 15 years.

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        You’re right — marriage equality didn’t directly benefit me.  But by making a minority group less descriminated against, it makes it less likely that I’ll be descriminated against for some trait that I have that puts in a minority.

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        It improved the anti-descrimination safety-net.

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        Plus, it had a big impact on my gay friends, some of whom are married.

      • Enough on the marriage thing.  This is touted as a glorious accomplishment (endlessly) by those who benefited from it.

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        …that same-sex marriage is incidental to the management of the state, please explain why the legislature and opponents of SSM spent so much time on the issue.

      • And other than the job offers, which is vehemently denied by the Governor’s office, I wonder how many minds were changed in this process by mere discussion – esp. since he advocated TAKING no vote, which turned out to be illegal per the SJC….

        • And other than the job offers, which is vehemently denied by the Governor’s office, I wonder how many minds were changed in this process by mere discussion

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          …so let me understand this, according to wingnuts such as Ms. Porc, politicians are not supposed to play–politics.  That strikes me as being preposterous, but so be it.

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          *I used “nonsense” here because Ms. Porc criticized me for not using terms other than “stupid.”  I’ll check my Roget’s for other synonyms.

    • Many of the posts arguing that Deval hasn’t done anything are blaming him for not persuading legislators to vote a certain way. Marriage equality is a case where he succeeded at doing exactly that: working in concert with legislative leaders to lobby the members and achieve the desired vote.

    • Right, Deval had nothing to do with getting the legislature to reject the anti-marriage amendment, yet Romney had everything to do with getting the legislature to rename the MDC as the DCR.

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      XYZ PDQ, PP.  Your double-standard is showing.

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      [addendum: yes, I do realize that Romney either filed or signed or both the legislation that renamed the MDC.  But the point is that the lege had to agree to it, as they had to agree to the marriage thing.]

      • …detailed here – MDC (Metropolitan District Commission):
        lost $2,596,052 for a 6 percent cut – Reduces administrative expenses for the Commissioner, Parks Division, Park Rangers, discontinues Basin Team Leader program at MDC, delays opening of the Ponkapoag and Leo J. Martin golf courses, reduces seasonal service at rinks and pools.  $219,750 cut from the Blue Hills Trailside Museum, a partnership between Mass Audubon and the MDC. This would suspend all state payments for the museum’s operations.

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        And then – the building was sold to developers (the MDC had their own HQ next to the McCormack building), as the MDC was merged into the DCR.

        • as usual.  You haven’t responded adequately to any of the comments above, so I see no need to discuss the matter further.  Except to add that, since the Gov indeed has no procedural role in the amendment process, his influence in making it come out the way he wanted seems even more impressive.

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          You guys really are hysterically funny on this kind of thing, you know.  “Romney was a great Governor, but Deval is a failure.”  LOL!  Best comedy routine on the internet.

            • that a sitting Mass Governor lobbied for and “advised” State lege members to break the Constitutional law? Incredible.
              What law will he tell them to break next?

              • But then the legislature followed the law and the Governor won a battle. I’ll give him that one. He did win, even if his original path was to ask for the legislature to break the law.

              • what do you think of George W. Bush’s repeated violations of constitutional and statutory law in the name of national security?  You can argue that they’re justified (if you want to), but you certainly can’t argue that they haven’t happened.

                • But were they preceded by Supreme Court rulings specifically saying that they would be unconstitutional?  The galling thing about this is that everyone knew it would be unconstitutional, and the question about whether or not to follow the “process” was openly being debated, and Patrick advised them not to.  At least Bush is asserting that the things he is doing are constitutional.  If there are instances of him saying “I know it’s illegal, but do it anyway”, then why is he not impeached yet?

          • Romney’s doing?  MassResistance sure gives him the credit for that one.  Patrick is being praised for his campaign still, but he had no role that us commentators didn’t have, except he had the power to make secret quid pro quo deals.  Are you guys saying he did that, or not?  He’s saying he didn’t.  Maybe they were more of a “life will suck for you if you don’t switch” thing.  But then, you guys would have seen to that anyhow.

  6. Deval’s done countless little things – and even a lot of big things (health insurance, marriage equality, etc.) – that have made an impact. Just because you’re too blind to see it, doesn’t mean I should have to waste my time rebutting this waste-of-a-post. Criticize his policies you don’t like, but don’t say he hasn’t done anything. It just makes you look like an ignoramous.

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    It’s going to take a long time to wrest control away from the legislature and give Deval the ability to pass his biggest proposals in full. Sadly, we all knew that going in there. I’m disappointed he hasn’t made enough inroads in the legislature so far, but I’m confident he’ll get there… and, if not, I guess we’re just going to have to change the fabric of the House.

    • Deval didn’t have a damn thing to do with the State’s first in the nation health insurance program. If you want to assign credit for that one , get the name right…Mitt Romney. Facts suck don’t they?
      It’s interesting to see that now that the “one party state” has been achieved that we’re hearing a lot of discontent now on this blog now about lack of progress (no pun intended)….that the lege is the PROBLEM! Wow, what a revelation! Why was this incredible flaw not revealed during republican(conservative) administrations? Hmmmmm??? This must be some new recent phenomina, no doubt. Yes the lege is the reason why the governor trainee is failing. It can’t be that Deval has no plan (never had one), no experience and no clue how the system works… Nah… together we can!

    • have you not been paying attention to the posts here on BMG.  There have been countless posts on how do we get Deval to be effective.  So far I’ve counted two concrete things Deval has accomplished.

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      1) Same Sex Marriage Petition defeat.
      2) GIC ability for Municipalities to join.

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      One of which was a Kerry Healey campaign platform position.

      • Charley listed 6 in his promotion comment, and there are others in the thread.  Have you not been paying attention to the posts here on BMG?

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        As for something being a “Kerry Healey campaign platform position,” assuming that that’s true, it should make you happy.  Deval said repeatedly during the campaign that every candidate in the race had some good ideas, and he intended to use them when he became governor.  Looks like he was serious.  In fact, that message is strikingly similar to what a certain candidate that you just spent a lot of time working for was saying. 

      • He replaced the old drab drapes and car, he passed in a budget proposal on time (whatever happened to that?), and just recently endorsed Barak Obama.

  7. To Charley’s list of accomplishments, I would add Deval’s first budget proposal, which, if it had been enacted, would have balanced the budget by closing corporate tax loopholes and not depositing $100 million into the “Rainy Day Fund.”  By minimizing budget gimmicks, it was an honest attempt to close a structural deficit created by the 2000 tax referendum and should lead to a more realistic and candid budget process in future years.  I would also add Deval’s appointment of Margot Botsford to the Supreme Judicial Court.

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    But I think Deval’s largest accomplishment is simply re-framing the debate in our state.  For most of the last sixteen years, the debate was how we could cut government and taxes. We never had an honest public debate about the cost of cutting government and taxes; rather, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift and Mitt Romney literally told us we could do less and have as much, or more.  We know that this was never true:  the present strain on cities and towns, rising property tax burdens, and the crumbling transportation infrastructure are just three examples.  In the last four years, it got worse, as Mitt Romney’s priorities as Governor were:  1) cutting taxes, 2) stopping gay marriage and stem cell research, and 3) fighting illegal immigration. 

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    Now we are debating how to fund our deferred needs in transportation infrastructure, education, and municipal services, new ways of bringing jobs to the state (the Governor’s life sciences and renewable energy initiatives, and, yes, destination resort casinos for good or bad), and how to increase civic engagement.  We can argue about whether re-framing debate is “concrete”–but I certainly think it is important.

  8. While it may still be too soon to tell, I would count moving Energy into the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs as a good move. Better integration of energy-related decisions and regulation with environmental regulation.

  9. I’m reposting in response to David asked me on another thread what Deval should do:

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    I haven’t been impressed by many of Deval’s education committee appointments. Not that I have anything against the people themselves, many are good Democrats who earned their stripes politically (not the perfect credentials in an ideal world, but this isn’t an ideal world) but they are all part of the party machinery and the decision-making elite.

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    Consider Henry Thomas III from Springfield. He’s got great credentials, but he’s hardly ahead of the curve on education. His piece on standards-based education in Commonwealth magaginze, penned with Mass High Tech Council’s Chris Anderson was terribly uninformed and poorly reasoned (particularly for a couple of attorneys). I single out Thomas because he’s a Patrick appointee. Anderson was a Romney choice. I’m less concerned with his political p.o.v. position than general lack of knowledge about education.

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    As a progressive, I object to the continuous recirculation of the governmental elite who populate these boards. I know that some of these people work for candidates and need to be rewarded, but Patrick should do more to involve people from other levels of politics and society.

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    The Readiness Project is pretty diverse geographically, and it has the vertically diversity that would be nice to see on standing governing boards and committees. While the Readiness Project is diverse, it’s a unique situation, a task force, not a directing board or anything. It would be great to see Gov. Patrick work to extend power below the glass ceiling of the Commonwealth’s elite.

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    I’m not going Bolshevik here. I’m not looking for an overthrow of the governmental elite. Just a more equal distribution of power. At least a more equal distribution of opportunity to make decisions.

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    I’d like to see Gov. Patrick put some cracks in it. This he could do by seeking out board and committee people at the community level, working to integrate them into the power structure instead of exhorting them to merely volunteer in their communities (or extend his power by working for Barack Obama). He wouldn’t even have to bother about an intransigent legislature.

    Mark

  10. Seems you have to measure accomplishment in light of what you suppose ought to be done.

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    1. Same-sex marriage.

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    Important to a small group of individuals, but, was it a problem dying for a solution? YMMV.

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    2. Encouraging muni unions to join GIC (not enough, but something).

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    “Gee whiz guys, would you join the GIC.”  Seriously, crediting Mr. Patrick with that as an accomplishment is damning by faint praise.  Want some meaningful progress to reduce costs, then he should have pushed to legislate that the state/municiple employess join–not merely “encourage”.  This “achievement” is emblematic of a significant state problem: the detrimental power of public unions in Massachusetts.

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    3. Approving and funding the Lowell Junction Interchange.

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    Sure, why not?  Seems like an idea whose time has come.

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    4. Keeping Evergreen Solar in state.

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    I’ll give you this, Mr. Patrick supported the state’s subsidizing Evergree Solar.  If you’re for corporate subsidies, whether it’s Biotech or Solar, then he’s accomplished taxpayers’ dollars toward welfare for business.

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    5. Jawboning down the cost of the new health care plans.

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    That is such bullsh*t.  Here, fixed: Jawboning down about the cost of the new health care plans.  If you wish to credit the Governor or the bully pulpit for hoping prices of health, gas, groceries will drop…then sally on.  But in the Deval versus the marketplace, he’ll be bitch slapped by the Invisible Hand every time.

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    6. Getting us back in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (a fine idea when Romney supported it, and still a fine idea after he disavowed it, btw).

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    FYI, Romney dropped out because he objected to the state being compelled to adhere to the ‘cap and trade’ system, because the accord gave no “out” for the state, even in the face of extreme energy price spikes.  Prudent I think.  So, yes, Mr. Patrick joined a system which at best, is ineffective but potentially costly.

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    http://www.earthinst…

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    Gosh, I feel like there’s so much more … – promoted by Charley on the MTA)

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    But yet, there isn’t.

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