Remember this oldie but goodie?
(Photo via the Boston Herald)
That, of course, is the end of the ill-fated Massport booze cruise back in 1999. Once the story (and that photo in particular) hit the papers, then-Massport director (and former congressman) Peter Blute’s career in politics was over.
Also involved was Sandy Tennant, a well-connected Weld era Republican operative (in the photo at left, Blute (L) and Tennant (R) are seen disembarking). As today’s Globe reminds us:
The last time Tennant made news was shortly after the Boston Harbor cruise, which prompted a public mea culpa, with Tennant saying he would end his party lifestyle and enter counseling. Photos of the cruise – including those of a young woman raising her blouse to show her bare chest – ended the tenure of Peter Blute as executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority; Blute had authorized and joined the frat party, and Tennant showed up with two young women.
And why is this in today’s Globe, anyway?
Charles D. Baker Jr., the Republican gubernatorial hopeful who gets a lot of mileage from his squeaky-clean image, is drawing on the help of an old GOP political operator with a colorful past: Alexander “Sandy” Tennant, one of the central figures in the infamous MassPort-funded “booze cruise” in 1999.
Tennant, a onetime state Republican Party official who now runs a consulting firm, is rounding up donations for Baker’s campaign committee, including asking friends in a blast e-mail to attend a fund-raiser at a Middleton home last Wednesday night.
The article also notes that Rob Gray is now officially a Baker campaign spokesman. Hmm.
IMHO, Charlie Baker is going to have to do better than assemble a bunch of Weld-era retreads to have any shot at winning the primary, never mind the general. At least Christy Mihos brought in Dick Morris. Has Baker got anyone working for him who wasn’t in the State House in the 1990s?
I don’t get your raising the 1999 Booze Cruise in writing about Tennant. Either he’s an effective political operative, or he’s not. I don’t know and can’t say, so perhaps you can do a more measured critique of Tennant’s professional career.
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p>But who cares about topless ancient history? (My aggravation further inflamed by your inability to source an uncensored photo.)
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p>Sowydra’s July 21st post was much more satisfying.
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p>Say, didn’t Dick Morris hire a hooker to satisfy his toe fetish?
Could be like…I dunno…something like a prostitution ring being run out of your house.
but to point out the lack of skeleton-free people in the world.
Just asking.
which obviously doesn’t preclude Frank from being effective at his job, but goes to show that everyone has skeletons. See my point?
See the difference?
is accepting his help and money. A lot of politicians send the check back.
a guy with a skeleton HELPING a person running for office VS. the guy actually RUNNING for office having a skeleton. We see the difference but the only way they will is if the party affiliations were reversed!!!
before I’d vote for a guy with no backbone.
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p>There were allegations to that effect. His roommate claimed that Frank fixed his traffic tickets; Frank denied it. No idea what, if anything, happened to that claim.
Bring up something unrelated and negative. Make people argue over quibble-ish points, like elected vs. paid staff, etc.
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p>Pretty lousy defense of Tennant, I say.
I think Peter Porcupine has it trademarked.
If you want the not-safe-for-work version, here ya go.
All that’s missing is Will Ferrell streaking.
Who cares about Gray’s “trade mark jeans and penny loafers minus socks?”
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p>The real bonehead move is hiring the guy responsible for Kerry Healey’s parking garage ad and that inane spend-o-meter.
damage coming out of this myself. Unless journalists start asking Tennant about the booze cruise and it interferes with Baker’s campaign, who’s going to care?
means a lot…
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p>as I said in my post below this, the booze cruise was the least of Tennant’s problems. Does Charley Baker really want to be associated with the uber shadiness of a guy like Sandy Tennant? It does open him to attack – the booze cruise just being the one with a handy picture. Sandy can raise a lot of dough, but I’m not so sure it’d be worth it… unless you don’t mind his stench. And if Charlie Baker doesn’t mind that kind of stench, I think that says a lot about Charlie Baker.
may be in Boston, but I swear the town of Swampscott has got to at least be a spoke. Guess where the Tennants are from? Feel bad saying this for numerous reasons, but Sandy Tennant is a shady guy. I can’t believe any modern-day prominent politician would at all want to be associated with him — the Booze Cruise was the least of his problems, and that’s just the stuff they can print…
party may come back to bite you. I’m thinking specifically of the “wonderfully charismatic” John Edwards that so many people on this blog once admired. As JoeTS said, there are not too many skeleton-free people in the world. (I can think of only a handful off hand(Mike Dukakis and Scott Harshbarger.) Also, with all of the scandals to hit both parties in the last ten years, this foolishness on the boat seems more like stupid antics than moral depravity.
this critique has too much merit. Yeah, there are bad guys on all sides. So what?
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p>When there’s someone who makes mistakes on such a huge level as Tennant, other candidates should think twice about accepting their help. That kind of money means something — and it’s not good politics.
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p>BTW: I don’t care about the booze cruise, other than the fact that it was on the public dime. If people want to go party hardy in Boston Harbor, topless or not, more power to them. What I care about is when people drink and drive and, especially related to politics, when people are doing politics so sleazy that they refuse to be open and transparent about it. Tennant was a state lobbyist. He made a quarter of a million dollars in 1999 money doing it. He did not register doing it, even though he had to have known the rules given his history with party politics. If you accept that kind of help, you’re open to questions about it. As I said, who your friends says a lot about you.
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p>Now, do I think Charlie Baker should automatically lose the race because of this? No. But he should have to answer questions, as any candidate answers questions based off their fundraising reports. Why someone would accept Sandy’s campaign financing help is a very, very relevant question once they’ve accepted it.
I’m glad that you see that there are bad guys on both sides. That’s enough for me.
Blute pissed someone off. I always figured the lady with her shirt pulled up was a setup.
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p>Gotta love Boston politcs!
then hiring Peter Blute’s flunkies is not the way to do it. Sounds like bostonshepherd hasn’t been following politics too long or is young.
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p>The globe had it right when the defined it as the:
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p>If you want to respond about waste in government all you have to do it post that picture with no comment.
when “At least Christy Mihos brought in Dick Morris” is not the punchline to a joke. Or is it?
He’s on the radio! OK, so it’s right-wing talk radio. All right, so he’s on early in the morning, when nobody listens. No, not in Boston — in Worcester…oh, never mind!
If that were my choice, I’d go with Tennant every time.
He needs some. One of my Boston political sources predicts a Patrick loss. First insider dope I’ve heard. FWIW.