There’s an interesting article on Lt. Gov. Tim Murray in the September issue of Boston Magazine. It’s by State House News Service stalwart Jim O’Sullivan, one of the best political writers going, and it’s well worth reading. It may not bring a lot of new information to folks who have been watching Beacon Hill closely (though there are some anecdotes that were new to me), but it’s a good portrait of a guy who has managed to use the rather vaguely-defined office of Lieutenant Governor to advance the Patrick-Murray administration’s agenda pretty effectively. It touts Murray’s savvy in working behind the scenes to move things forward, and also notes his fundraising prowess. For the political non-junkies out there, it’s a very useful piece.
The problem is the title.
Hack in Action
Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray is exactly the kind of politician Deval Patrick railed against four years ago. He’s also the reason Patrick may win again in November.
When I first saw that headline, I thought, whoa, has O’Sullivan dug up some new dirt on Murray? Has he uncovered some ethical lapse that would make it fair to characterize Murray as a “hack,” and even more extremely, as “exactly the kind of politician Deval Patrick railed against four years ago”? Does Murray have some connection to the “Big Dig culture of Beacon Hill” (against which Patrick indeed railed) that we didn’t know about? And why haven’t we heard about any of this before?
When you read the article, you quickly realize that there’s no new dirt, there’s no new scandal, and no, Murray is not a “hack.” So what’s up with the scary headline?
First, for the record, I have confirmed (not via O’Sullivan himself) that O’Sullivan did not write the headline. It was the work of anonymous headline writers at Boston Magazine.
Second, the headline is really unfortunate, and a disservice to Murray. The article’s bottom line is this, in assessing Murray’s prospects for higher office down the road:
If Murray is to advance, … [h]e’ll somehow need to convey to voters that an insider can sometimes be more than a cynical bureaucrat, that a professional politician can be (gasp) good for politics – a lesson even Deval Patrick has come to appreciate.
I think that’s a fair assessment. What’s grossly unfair is to equate “professional politician” with “hack.” They are the same in Howie Carr-land, but Carr-land is a right-wing fantasy that bears little resemblance to Planet Earth. So here’s a suggestion to the droll headline writers at BoMag: stop listening to Howie Carr, and start paying attention to how good work does sometimes get done in politics.
about the content of the article itself is this line:
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p>Well, not really. I went back and looked over some of our writings about the Lt. Gov. race at the time. It’s true that none of your editors endorsed Murray in the primary. But two of us dithered for months because we couldn’t decide between Murray and Andrea Silbert. For example, in my Silbert endorsement, I wrote:
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p>And Charley wrote:
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p>And when Murray won, here are some of our comments:
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p>Obviously, the three of us spoke only for ourselves, not for all of “Patrick’s followers.” But there were lots of Murray backers on BMG who also strongly backed Patrick in the primary. At least in this corner, I didn’t detect much “leeriness” about Murray’s primary win.
That is total bullshit journalist fantasy land. I endorsed Silbert too, but I always liked Murray, and he impressed at the Lt Gov forum we all held in Lowell. Many, many good friends who worked on the Patrick campaign also worked or backed Murray. And I liked him when he got on the ticket, AND I’ve liked him ever since. He’s a personable guy who’s serious, looking to solve problems, and knows WTF he’s doing. He will make an awesome Gov someday if he wants it and I will enthusiastically support him then too.
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p>I really wish sometimes that people would stop stupid things like “that’s what they say!” It deserved total derision. That’s not journalism, that’s inside-Beacon-Hill speak. As is the title that you talk about.
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p>Idiots.
As someone who volunteered on the Patrick campaign pretty damn early on and who whipped for Murray at the State Convention, I can tell you that there were plenty of us who were not only NOT “leery” but were in fact down right extatic at the idea of the two of them being ticketed together.
Everyone knows that of the 35 Arlington Delegates for example, Murray got 17 on the first round – and that was similar in other 4th Middlesex delegations – so I for one was with Murray from the beginning and my district knows it.
I was impressed with Tim Murray before I had even met Deval Patrick. It is also one of the only times in over 20 years when I would have no problem at all with Lt. Gov (i.e. Tim) filling the office of Governor if the Gov (i.e. Deval) was given a chance to move up with a national position or office. I like both members of this team.
I think he’s the only one who can beat Brown.
“The scrappy afterthought of a city shapes all who have lived under its gray clouds..”
Uh, sorry, Boston, but any “gray clouds” we have here are simply on their way east to you.