Hello John,
You just paid me this big fat retainer to advise.
You told me to be brutally frank. At your request I will.
Let us review the facts in the in light most favorable to you.
1. At a meeting years ago a compromise was struck between you and Sal DiMasi in which you agreed to drop out of that speaker’s fight. In return it was agreed that you would be majority leader and in-line for next speaker. Tom Finneran was also present.
2. Your understanding from the meeting was Sal DiMasi would support you when the time came to be your successor.
3. Sal appoints you majority leader. He appoints Petro to a newly created position that gives him more stars than you.
4. You go ahead and play the game to get elected speaker. Petro does too. He first puts Mariano out there then pulls him back. DeLeo emerges.
5. Sometime following it is revealed that you paid your long time associate/friend/non-political consultant $200,000.00 from your campaign funds for political consulting.
At about the same time you purchased a summer home on Cape Cod. You admit that the monthly mortgage payments were made by the same long time friend/associate/non-political consultant you paid the $200,000.00 to for political consultation.
6. You continued your quest for the speakership as if nothing happened.
7. You learned Sunday that Sal was leaving and for the first time there was list of names supporting one candidate. Eighty-Six names. DeLeo had been the favorite candidate of conventional wisdom for months.
8. You round up your lts. and say “game on”. You start attacking DeLeo on his ethics by inferring that he is corrupt because the controversial Cognos and tix scalper bills went through his committee.
You screamed that we shouldn’t have a “coronation” of the next speaker.
You also argue that in tough fiscal times you are the man to lead.
John, you are not the problem.
The problem is the people around you. They have failed you sir. More then once.
They never had the following conversation with you:
“Johnny, WTF? That cape house thing stinks freakin bad. You know that? Right? You can’t win Johnny. You hit a wall with that thing. People wanted answers and you gave them. Guess what Johnny, they were the wrong answers.. Now Deleo has the votes and you want us to go down with you rather seeing the writing on the wall.
“You should have stepped out of this a while back. Just like Mariano did. Now you have the hutzpa to challenge Deleo on his ethics?
“Over what? Because the bill went through his committee? Johnny, you are preaching to a choir that knows how the building works. More likely than not Sal or Petro or someone from sal’s office called down to DeLeo and said they wanted the bill moved. I’m sure he did meet with Dickie McDonough whomever. The way it is done a thousand times a session. But you want to throw mud and speculate. Needlessly bring more disgrace upon the institution in a shoot the moon last ditch narcissistic effort. You suck!
“John you are like a known heroin addict declaring he should get the job because the other guy once smoked a bone. Maybe.
“Saying you were promised the job by Sal and whoever shows you to be the big lame-o you are. You bring disgrace upon the house by saying that in private, never mind to the press. Johnny, you schmuck, whose votes did Sal promise you?
“What do you do now that it is clearly over? You cry that Deleo is being coroneted by 86 reps.
“In the same breath you say two non-reps, Sal and Finneran, chose you speaker years ago.
“WTF did I do? Johnny, you are worse than Gov. Blago. Shame on us for not seeing it. We had so many opportunities for another candidate. Fuck Me! This is like the time I was dating that chick from Revere. Everybody was hoping on her and I didn’t see it. Even after the hockey team incident. Fuck Me!!!!
“And another thing, you creepy piece of crap. Did you look at those names on Deleo’s list? Did you see all the freshmen? Where were you this summer when Bobby was lining them up? You lazy prima dona”
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So that’s how I see it Sir. Your lts. are allowing the House to go down in flames. They should have conducted an intervention long ago.
Today you should release your votes and go out with a little self-respect.
Well I see that this chat has just about exhausted your retainer. No need. I’ll show myself out. Good day.
…definitely have to go with Sal. I wouldn’t want to put Petro or alter-boy Johnny in a position of power over anyone I liked, never-mind a child. Also, unless you have particularly fearless children, a couple hours spent in such close contact with the dark heart that is Petro will surely result in years of expensive therapy.
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p>Don’t have a very could sense for Deleo, and even if Sal has been running his business fast and loose the last few years, he still seems like a decent guy person to person. Plus, since he’s probably being monitored 24/7 by the feds…what could possibly go wrong?
Uncle Sal is gonna get to watch my kid. Maybe He’ll take him on a field trip in the North End, if the kid is lucky!?!
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Obviously, John Rogers IS his own problem. Thankfully, he’s not our problem too.
he can baby sit him anytime he wants.
If your a progressive and there’s allegations of impropriety, then it’s ok. If you’re not an ideological ally of Ryan, then anything that taints you requires a progressive replacement. Now that’s intellectual honesty. Keep passing debt on to your imaginary child/children as well, that’s the progressive way anyway…..
Having met him, I did not think that Ryan was made of straw.
Honestly, while I’m sad to see Sal go, I think he should have resigned after the latest story with his in laws. While I’m not sure whether or not what happened there was illegal, it was the first thing that was, to me, a bonafide breach of ethics. The others were very defensible things – guilt by association (ticketgate) and guilt for the Cognos situation when it wasn’t Sal or even the House that had final approval (it was the Corner Office). Those are the two reasons why I didn’t want Sal gone; I didn’t think they were provable offenses. Someone hooking up two of your family’s in laws, however, is a rather different story. I’m sure that’s why he resigned.
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p>I will point out that Dianne Wilkerson was a stalwart liberal in this state and I was a vociferous opponent of her campaign, to the tune that I penned a very damaging column in the Bay Windows, one that I know made at least a small difference because I faced a lot of heat over it from some of Wilkerson’s allies, everything from angry phone calls to people trying to bump me off organizations I’m involved in. Seriously.
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p>Now, as for this “debt” you’re talking about. I’m not sure I completely understand what you mean – but I’m going to assume you’re suggesting that this country couldn’t afford universal health care. Well, you’re right: we can’t afford, as currently constituted, this Massachusetts health care bill. A very simple fix – making businesses that don’t offer contributions pay their fair share, instead of a measly $200 or 300 a year, would solve the problem. Make them pay $100 a month and the problem may just go away – or maybe they’ll even decide it’s not worth being asshats and offer their own insurance. But the far preferable option is single payer. Not only could we afford that as a state or national government, but it would save billions upon billions. We’d have to reorganize how we’d pay, but the average family would save thousands a year.
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p>As KBusch pointed out, I don’t think you know me well enough to make determinations about my personality or philosophy in life. I’m very willing to buck conventional wisdom or popular attitudes in favor of what I think is right. Indeed, I think I was very, very much going away from the grain in this community for my support of Sal. Pardon me for presuming people innocent until proven guilty – or at least until there’s overwhelming evidence that proves that at the very least they committed a severe breach of ethics.