Logan Airport is run by the Massachusetts Port Authority. Massport, as it’s known, had become a dumping ground for Republican political hacks with little interest in governing. The director of Massport at the time of the attacks was 36 year old Virginia Buckingham. She was appointed by Swift’s predecessor Celluci. Her experience prior to that was as chief of staff to former Gov. William Weld, whose resignation in 1997 led to Celluci’s becoming governor. When she was appointed the late Rep. Joe Moakley remarked that Celluci took “some girl sitting in the next office and put her in charge.”
Buckingham followed Peter Blute, a defeated Republican congressman Weld appointed after Blute lost his seat to Democrat Jim McGovern. Blute resigned after the infamous “Booze Cruise.” This was a cruise around Boston Harbor on public time, using public money, with lobbyists and several attractive young women. One of the women bared her breasts for the Boston Herald photographer following the boat.
Buckingham was roundly criticized following the attacks and in October 2001 announced her resignation. No one can say she was responsible for the horrible event seven years ago, and most of the criticism against her at the time was probably unfair. But the point is that Swift, Buckingham, Blute, McCain and Palin don’t take government seriously. They think government exists to serve their whim, not to perform essential functions for the public. That’s why Republicans think nothing of ripping off the government, whether its Dick Cheney’s Halliburton filling its pockets in Iraq with money that should be buying body armor for the troops, or Sarah Palin billing the state of Alaska for sleeping at her own home.
Swift was such an incompetent governor, and so unpopular, that when Mitt Romney came back to Massachusetts to run for governor fresh off his stint running the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics that she dropped out of the race without a fight. No Republican stepped up to defend her.
So let’s look at the traits Jane Swift and Sarah Palin share. Both were inexperienced governors. Both were added to the a political ticket in a cynical attempt to create “balance” and attract female voters. Both gave birth while governor. Both were so-called reformers, but continued previously corrupt policial traditions once elected. Palin did this with her earmarks and Swift with her patronage.
The big lesson to be learned from John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin to be his running mate is that McCain clearly doesn’t have the judgment to be president. George W. Bush has been criticized for being “incurious,” but John McCain takes that to the extreme. It’s not just that President Palin is a horrifying thought. It’s that John McCain puts his own personal ambitions before the welfare of the country.
