Bernstein on Facebook said Wolf is resigning his seat and quitting the campaign. What a crock of BS. Job destroyer and culture capitalist who hadn’t lived in the state when he announced his candidacy Mitt Romney gets to use and abuse the corner office for his own vile and vain ambitions while self made man Dan Wolf, who created jobs here in Massachusetts, can’t run over a technicality that is so mockable even the humorles Tom Keane was able to bash it. Billy Bulger and Finneran are free to walk the streets and lobby their former colleagues but Wolf can’t run? Something is seriously wrong with this state.
Please share widely!
Plenty of time to let the courts sort it out. Just no fire in the belly.
If you want to be Governor, you have to be willing to go out on a limb for something. Apparently, Wolf isn’t.
I guess.
If this was mountain climbing or some other solitary task, that would be one thing, but this is asking people for their volunteer time and donations for something that may or may not happen based on some eventual court decision. I think it is too much to expect.
There are plenty of ways it might turn out to be a “waste” of time under this standard. Maybe you don’t get enough signatures, or fail to make it past the convention onto the primary ballot. Maybe your fundraising is weak, or a loved one gets cancer, and you have to drop out. A million things can happen that are bigger threats than a court decision. Even if a court says the EC is right, he can still run, and can become Governor if he wins, by winding up his interest in Cape Air. He has a year and a half to do that.
then it is wrong to start the campaign and engage people in the effort. Whatever, agree to disagree, I guess.
Equating the vigorous standards the FAA and Massport made Cape Air meet in-order to get a carrier route to a “no bid” contract is asinine. None of the past precedents/cases they cited have the same facts as the Cape Air situation.
I assume Wolfe’s getting advice from his political folks (OK, Doug Rubin) that you can’t challenge the Ethics Commission as a “good government” candidate. Well when following their wrong headed opinion results in you inability to run for governor…what the hell to you have to lose? High information primary voters will understand what he did and why and he may even win some votes.
Senator Wolf in his announcement stated the following,’ my responsibilities to the people who elected me as State Senator from the Cape and Islands” my responsibilities to the people who elected me? What about the rest of those who didn’t vote for him. His vote to raise the gas tax, was this vote in the best interest of everyone in the Cape and Island district?
I even go as far as questioning his voting for the gas tax increase because the money is to be used for transportation. Isn’t Mr. Wolf in the transportation business? Isn’t his voting for the increase, a Conflict of Interest? He should have abstained from the voting on the gas tax, but he didn’t did he.
Mr. Wolf is further quoted, “I do not believe Cape Air’s agreements with MassPort are state contracts that create a conflict of interest for me as a public official. These are fixed fees and leases with identical terms and conditions for any airline that uses Logan. Well, if they are fixed fees and leases with identical terms and conditions for any airline that uses Logan wouldn’t this be put in writing? I would believe this would be a contract that Cape Air would have to sign and agree upon with the terms of the fixed fees and leases.
Who is Mr. Wolf trying to snow ball on this? He would want us to believe that the fixed fees and leases were agreed upon by spitting in the palm of your hand and then shaking hands on it. I doubt very much this is the way MassPort does business.
In closing Mr. Wolf has not mentioned his other interest, Turbo Lease, LLC where he is a managing Partner, and draws a salary of 100,000 dollars, which leases at least 4 aircraft that fly out of the satellite airfield at Hanscomb and run by MassPort. I would think this would also be a Conflict of Interest, or at least, an indirect Conflict of Interest.
Mr. Wolf got caught trying to pull a fast one and is now crying victim. He knew what he was doing and the Cape and Islands are better off with his resignation.
Is this how it works: You don’t like taxes, even though real state tax revenues are down 26% from 1978, so nobody who might arguably have a stake in “transportation” can vote on transportation, even when it’s clearly one of our most glaring public policy needs? A Senator need not get unanimous consent from every voter in the district before concluding that raising the gas tax is, on balance, the best policy course to pursue at this time.
And Wolf never said there were no signed contracts. He provided the contracts to the commission. His argument is that the fees paid to Massport are preset, with no arms-length negotiations going on, and Massport is required by federal law to enter into such agreements with any certified carrier.
…would he appoint people who would vote to have 1/2 price contracts for airlines with principal corporate headquarters in Massachusetts?
at which the ethical issue could be raised. He could appoint people who wouldn’t vote that way. He could go “out of town” for a day and let the LG make the appointments. Or he could act like Scalia and Thomas and Cheney and Bob McDonnell and just do whatever he felt like. I don’t see the reason why this pure speculation about a fraction of 1% of the governor’s job should disqualify someone from holding the office.
…I told you this would happen.
It was never the contract, it was the ownership stake. And he can’t transfer 10 of his 20 percent to a family member, it has to be an outright sale and his pocketbook might not be able to take such a hit. (How he got DOWN to 20 percent from 100 is another story and a better one to be saved for a general election). He was never qualified to run to be a legislator or Governor, but the Ethics Committee appointed by Democrats saw no need to tell a mere Republican rival about this in response to inquiries – only a serious election like a primary of Democrats triggered that.
Now, Sarah Peake (already announced when Dan announced his run) will gear up for the special, as I wrote here when this first blew up. There will be much coyness about a date to give her enough time without tipping off GOP opposition (which already exists). Her close ties with and meteoric rise under DiMasi may not serve her well.
The Democrats in Massachusetts are the Party of Corruption.
Pretty sure that’s not how it works, PP. You know that, of course, but never let an annoying fact get in the way of an awesome conspiracy theory.
How about disclosing that the “mere Republican rival” happens to be your husband?
..not ten years younger.
I am not married to Senate candidate Jim Crocker.
I am not even married to Barnstable Town Council candidate Will Crocker (the one who looks like Gomez Adams) who is married to Judy Crocker of the GOP State Committee (shudder).
I’ll withdraw my uprating. No relation at all?
Crocker’s family came here in 1620.
Mine came here in 1920.
Not even the same counry.
I got mixed up because a Crocker took your state committee seat.