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Monday, November 02, 2009
Statement to the PRESS
On Monday, the new campaign manager for Christy Mihos informed me in an email that I had resigned on September 30. I didn't know that nor did anyone else. I have yet to speak to Christy or his new manager, but I guess this is just another one of those eccentric moments that make us all just love Christy for the special person that he is. I will always love the guy like a brother, and wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors - and I thank Christy for the great projects he and I worked on together throughout October and in the many months prior. I'm sure he'll do very well.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Simply too much to digest after dinner.
I was going to watch the senate debate between the Dems running for the seat left open by Ted Kennedy's recent passing. I'm here watching - make that wincing. To my stomach's dismay I see that the moderator is that exiled crank from WBZ radio - and very former health care industry flack - Peter Meade; who was someone very famous in his own mind back in 1971, or something like that. So that's it for me. I'm going straight to Sanford and Son reruns if all the networks can give me is four lackluster candidates not complimented by a has-been moderator.
By the way......before my hand can grab the clicker I catch a real, earth shattering first question from the brilliant, utopian moderator. When did you decide to run? YUP, that gives me a lot of information. Not that a better first question would be................................... name the first thing you'd do to bring jobs to Massachusetts, or something like that. The first question is when did your brain cells tell you to run, Kido, run!! And they wonder why no one watches these affairs.
Mike Capuano decided after Kennedy died. I guess that's better than deciding to run while the poor guy was still alive. He says he talked to his family and figured out he could do the job. BREATHTAKING prudence from the Ivy League grad.
Pagliuca - he's the guy whose advertising on every station except HBO (and that's only because HBO won't sell ad space) says he decided after figuring out that we've lost a lot of jobs. This guys a freakin Einstein. He could have saved the Titanic with prowess like that.
Oh, yeah, I'm here still watching, aren't I.
Peter Meade (wasn't he the dad in the Brady Bunch) won't let go. He want's a "moment," that special spiritual thing I guess, when the candidates decided to run. They ignore him, like I should be doing.......like thousands are doing as they reach for the remote controls which save us from the meager Meades of the world.
Hanscom is on the chopping block. Capuano says he's learned how to influence Washington, even on a small scale, like Ted. It's critical that we keep Hanscom. Ok. Thank you, Mayor Capuano. As they say....one a Somerville Mayor, always a Somerville Mayor.
Steve says he can change Washington because he has a plan for partnerships and empowerment zones. Something we've never heard before...................right. Ok.
Martha says ......well, I can't figure out what the hell she said.
Anyway, I gotta go now. Can't take anymore.
I've gotta Google the Libertarian candidate for this one so I can send them a check real fast.
By the way......before my hand can grab the clicker I catch a real, earth shattering first question from the brilliant, utopian moderator. When did you decide to run? YUP, that gives me a lot of information. Not that a better first question would be................................... name the first thing you'd do to bring jobs to Massachusetts, or something like that. The first question is when did your brain cells tell you to run, Kido, run!! And they wonder why no one watches these affairs.
Mike Capuano decided after Kennedy died. I guess that's better than deciding to run while the poor guy was still alive. He says he talked to his family and figured out he could do the job. BREATHTAKING prudence from the Ivy League grad.
Pagliuca - he's the guy whose advertising on every station except HBO (and that's only because HBO won't sell ad space) says he decided after figuring out that we've lost a lot of jobs. This guys a freakin Einstein. He could have saved the Titanic with prowess like that.
Oh, yeah, I'm here still watching, aren't I.
Peter Meade (wasn't he the dad in the Brady Bunch) won't let go. He want's a "moment," that special spiritual thing I guess, when the candidates decided to run. They ignore him, like I should be doing.......like thousands are doing as they reach for the remote controls which save us from the meager Meades of the world.
Hanscom is on the chopping block. Capuano says he's learned how to influence Washington, even on a small scale, like Ted. It's critical that we keep Hanscom. Ok. Thank you, Mayor Capuano. As they say....one a Somerville Mayor, always a Somerville Mayor.
Steve says he can change Washington because he has a plan for partnerships and empowerment zones. Something we've never heard before...................right. Ok.
Martha says ......well, I can't figure out what the hell she said.
Anyway, I gotta go now. Can't take anymore.
I've gotta Google the Libertarian candidate for this one so I can send them a check real fast.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Dan Grabauskas for the number two spot?
Dan Grabauskas for lt. governor? The Republican Rumor Mill is stacked with stories regarding G.O.P. hopeful Charlie Baker - who recently joined Christy Mihos as a contender for the G.O.P. nomination - tapping Grabauskas as his running mate for the 2010 race. Baker and Grabauskas share, or shared, the same consultant - right wing activist Rob Gray; whose now toiling for Baker and once ran Dan's ill fated campaign for treasurer, when Grabauskas was burried by Tim Cahill.
And then there's this.......Grabauskas could be leaving his post as general manager at the M.B.T.A. sooner than he prefers since the governor and his transportation secretary, Jim Aloisi, appear to have launched their first strike in a war to dump Grabauskus, a hold over from the Romney Administration. Running for lt. governor could beat sitting at home and watching Joy Beyhar.
What would Grabauskus bring to the ticket? Well.......he's from Ipswich. And as Ipswich goes, so goes the Commonwealth??
Friday, July 31, 2009
Let's end the week on a lighter note - SUPPORT MR. Clucky !!
Mr. Clucky Goes to Court
By Kyle Munzenrieder in NewsThursday, Jul. 30 2009 @ 11:29AMThe legal saga of Rooster-American Mr. Clucky went to court this morning, and he doesn't have much to crow about.
Clucky and his activist owner Marc Buckley have been South Beach fixtures for years, riding up and down Lincoln Road and even appearing on the cover of New Times. Problem is, roosters technically can't be kept as pets on South Beach. So early last month, code enforcement told Clucky and his girlfriend Wallflower they have to get out of town.
Today, Buckley went to court and wasn't told much different. He has to pay a $50 fine and was informed the chicken might be removed from his home.
But Buckley can still ask the city commission for an exception to the rules or continue the appeals process through the court system.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Charlie Baker is being over estimated.
Charlie Baker is a 'Their guy' candidate.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Not much time to blog this date, given the fact that it's been atleast a day since I watched The Michael Jackson Story on TVONE..........so here goes.
Charlie Baker could well be the Steve Pierce of 1990, then the House minority leader who was the 'chosen one' of the G.O.P. establishment and the winner of the party convention that pivotal election year. In fact, just weeks before the big primary vote in September, the party bosses demanded that the populist in the race, Big Red Bill Weld, drop out for the sake of the party; and to avoid the embarrassment of a crushing defeat.
Didn't work out that way, did it? Unless I'm pulling a very senior moment, Weld put it into fifth gear and left Pierce in the dust..........and the party elite looked red faced, if not ashen.
Sure, Weld had a smoking gun in his hands. News of Pierce ignoring his state income tax obligations for a matter of years didn't exactly endear him to Joe and Mary voter. But I think it was more than that. If there's anything rank and file primary voters can't stand, it's being told who to vote for.
Proof of this? Just drive down to Pennsylvania where newly created Democrat Arlen Specter is loosing ground quickly to the likely G.O.P. nominee, Pat Toomey. The party bosses have annointed Specter as 'their guy' since he defected from the G.O.P. but the endorsement from the Governor Rendell and President Obama doesn't seem to be paying off in good polling data.
Link -
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/philadelphia/20090723_Poll_shows_Specter__Toomey_even_in_Senate_race.html
But 'Their guy' candidates tend to be losing candidates. Charlie Baker is the epitomy of a 'Their guy' candidate.
For my money Baker's got problems. Questions regarding his big dig financing decision are legitimate, regardless of how much he dodges them. Further, the G.O.P. primary will be flooded with independents, given the fact that the Democratic Primary will be a yawner, as Gov. Patrick will likely not be opposed.
Independent voters like an independent candidate, and G.O.P. hopeful Christy Mihos embodies that spirit more than Baker ever could.
Simply put, it's the clash of the establishment candidate, Charles Baker, versus the populist candidate, Christy Mihos. In an era when independent voters are telling pollsters they see Beacon Hill insiders as poison fruit, who will they support......Baker, the Beacon Hill Secretary of this and that, or Christy Mihos, a self made man who blew the whistle on Big Dig corruption when everyone else had their whistles in a lock box?
In any event, the campaign begins and everyone should get involved and study the contenders.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Channel Two is hard up?????
Boston Globe reporter Megan Woolhouse reports that Channel Two is about to bring the hatchet down in light of budget shortfalls (click title for full Globe story).
Alert to the brain trust at Channel Two. I’m here channel surfing as I blog - quite the multi tasker aren't I - and in between words of wisdom on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic (which now goes by the much cooler moniker, NatGeo) I’m seeing a ton of ads and I don’t see how it’s eviscerating the educational programming for which the aforementioned media outlets have won numerous, prestigious awards. Do the execs in Brighton think commercials cause cancer, or something?
When does PBS wake up and smell the coffee???
Would a few volvo ads really descimate The American Experience, Nova, etc? In fact, a few commercials during the Emily Rooney Show - a.k.a. Greater Boston - would give me the time I need to run to the medicine cabinet for the Pepto Bismol.
Even better, becoming an independent broadcasting network, like everyone else, would alleviate the taxpayers sending the annual 400 million dollars PBS has become addicted to. Let me think......400 million in tax dollars........maybe better spent on cancer research, feeding the poor, anything but TV.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Can the HERALD just finally disclose the conflict????
At what point in time does the disgruntled, X-Employee move on.
by Arthur Stamfordham
If you are a reader of the Boston Herald you might actually take the time to skim through the meanderings of the "Lone Republican," a.k.a. Holly Robichaud, a former state house worker (read - legislative aide) and now a self proclaimed Dick Morris with a skirt on.
Problem is, she doesn't seem to be able to get over her former boss Christy Mihos, a successful businessman who ran for governor in '06 and is trying to make the second time the charm in 2010.
In column after column, Robichaud takes Mihos to task for everything from costing the G.O.P. the election last cycle (Mihos ran as an independent) to you name it. Her recent proclamation is that Mihos should drop his bid for governor as he was a bad boy for running in last time around. Problem is....the rest of the story.
Toiling for Independent Candidate Christy Mihos in 2006 was none other than the Lone Republican herself, Holly. According to records at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Robichaud made a pretty pile of cash off the convenience store magnate before she flew the coop and decided to take up a new career of hitting the guy over the head with a baseball bat at each and every turn.
What happened? According to a Mihos insider, "it was a nightmare." Beyond that, he wouldn't elaborate. I suppose we can all use our imaginations. And one might imagine - hope - that Robichaud's boss at the Herald might insist that she atleast disclose her past work for Mihos before another mugging via her Herald blog.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Here's my principal beef with this ongoing Friday morning press conference being held by the solid BLUE LINE regarding the arrest of Harvard's Professor Gates. They've decided that Governor Patrick owes an apology to the constabulary? Are you absolutely kidding me? I understand the beef with President Obama (though I agree with the president....I would not have thrown out a form of the word stupid, or even gotten involved - as the president must maintain a distance from the quarrels of local life) but Governor Patrick has been measured and mature in his commentary and done nothing to be regretful for.
This is about police authority being challenged - and they, the police, find it as distasteful as eating rotten fish cakes. Police have developed a sense of entitlement and as a result citizens are dragged into jail every day of the week for paltry reason. But the governor has been far from incendiary in this matter, and has yet to make any statement that should offend the hypersensitive solid BLUE LINE.
The governor has been very gubernatorial throughout this event and proven a good demeanor throughout. Maybe one of the reporters should have asked this question - "if this had been your father, all things being equal, would you have believed his arrest the only course of action for the police to take?"
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Charlie Baker needs to get the needle pointed the right way, not the extreme right way.
by Kevin Sowyrda, political commentator
Gossip in Bean Town, more critical to survival than franks at Fenway, is telling us that newly born gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker is about to ink a deal with G.O.P. hit man and Lee Atwater wanna-be Rob Gray to run his campaign for the corner office. If "you know them by the company they keep" is applicable here, Baker's about to alienate more than a phalanx of party activists - and Democrats - who remember Gray for political tactics that don't seem in sync with Baker's reputation as a moderate Republican, high on ethics and committed to a think tank governing style.
Sure, it's inside baseball. The average voter isn't going to que on election day to vote for or against a candidate because their campaign chieftain is Gray, Rubin, Morris, or whoever. But in a town where the primary sports are Red Sox Baseball and Beacon Hill Intrigue, this story is juicy, and will only get better.
Watching Gray in action at the state house was always like Francis Ford Coppola's, 'The Godfather.' I don't know of any bleeding horse heads deposited into the beds of Gray's enemies (of which there are too many to enumerate), but all the broken toes still healing from Rob's political stampedes would, alone, be enough to Bring Baker's HMO company to its knees.
Sure, he says he was offered a high ranking position in the White House after toiling for George Bush and Dick Cheney on the campaign trails of New England; though a number of G.O.P. operatives tell me that his claim was dubious -a spin effort worthy of Gray who counts as his clients the Toiletry Foundation of America......really.
So how and why the Rockefeller-like Republican Charlie Baker goes to bed with a G.O.P. right winger is a hard question to answer, especially given Gray's penchant for rewarding his mentors in a less than conventional manner. After pocketing plenty of easy cash from no heavy lifting contracts via Mitt Romney's graces, Mr. Gray, famous for his trade mark jeans and penny loafers minus socks, showed his gratitude by joining John McCain's presidential operation. Et,tu Brute?
Finding Republicans willing to share their distaste for Gray was as easy as finding a new reality show on TV. But trying to get one to go on the record was not a realistic expectation. For a disheveled little man, Gray intimidates a fair number of political operatives who don't care to incur his wrath but are nonetheless loaded with anecdotal information as to why Gray is the best thing to ever happen to the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
"He's the reason Kerry Healy lost", said a former high ranking Weld Administration official who asked not to be named because......well maybe she doesn't like horse heads in bed. Gray managed Lt. Governor Healy's gubernatorial bid in 2006, which went down in flames; especially after her media war created more controversy than votes. Gray's so called "parking garage ad" warning citizens about the dangers of being raped was lambasted by critics for racist undertones. "I think it was extremely negative and I think the parking ad was so over the top. It was racial. It was scare tactics that if you don't elect her then everybody else will be week on law enforcement," said the former Weld Administration insider who worked in the corner office.
So is it all a harbinger of the type of campaign Charlie Baker will run - one of those Willie Horton specials that has us rolling in the gutter; or atleast rolling our eyes? If Gray is in total control, yes. Gutter politics is where Gray's needle is pointing to. But should Baker actually be in this to win, he needs a broader path. "Charlie's success would be found in people viewing him and his campaign as a moderate operation," media consultant and '06 Kerry-Healey supporter Jan Saragoni told me on Tuesday morning.
In any event, Baker's facing a Pork Chop Hill of a campaign. Despite the fawning coverage his drinking buddies still toss his way from the city's broadsheet, Baker is hardly the eight hundred pound guerilla he's portrayed as. While it's fun for the G.O.P. establishment to make fun of businessman Christy Mihos as a pushover in waiting, I'll put my money on Christy any day of the week. Don't put it beyond Mihos to give Baker a shellacking. Mihos is independently wealthy and ran for governor in 2006, while Baker's campaign experience does not extend beyond his riveting race for Swampscott selectman.
Come the general election, Governor Patrick could become the man to beat, with an Independent Tim Cahill siphoning off votes from the Republican nominee. Then again, the governor still has a lot of damage repair ahead of him after squandering so much political capital on cynical patronage ventures; and my sources say that Mihos is taking solid advice from campaign guru Dick Morris and is in this thing to win, having learned from his mistakes in '06.
For my money, Baker's the candidate of the Boston Globe and the Republican Party preaturians. This crowd makes a roar now and then - and they're great to meet for chocolate martinis at the Hampshire House - but they rarely pull off touch downs in the final quarter.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
How much more of this monarchist-like flummery can we possibly endure???
Case in point, today's web edition (is there any other) of Politico.com where we are tutored on the actual dangers a president faces when he is, well, "perfect" (article link is - http://www.politico.com/news/s...
No, they are not speaking of former President Abraham Lincoln, but the rather newer President Barack Obama who is a "better father", a "better husband" and practices "better" dieting. For all we know he never suffers flagellant moments like the rest of us. So Politico scribe Eamon Javers has gone where no man has gone before, and delved into the potential political pitfalls for a president who is just too omnipotent for his own good. "The industry seems to be in collective awe of Obama," the author writes. Seems to be? Ya think? Really?
Even the bonafide conservatives are yielding to his Excellency's prowess in all things temporal. Tucker Carlson told Politico, "People naturally defer to others they think are superior."
The propaganda gets even thicker - even sickningly sweet. Newsweek's editor Evan Thomas recently proclaimed to fellow Obama sycophant Chris Matthews that the president is basically a Deity. "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God," said Thomas - though strangely he had no rosary beads in hand as he was providing this twisted take on the state of American affairs.
This historic Hyperbole on Obama is getting so thick, I can finally relate to the Great Molassis Flood of Boston in 1919 when a Molassis tank the size of Heaven burst, killing 21 people. It wasn't pretty, and neither is this sticky, political flood of pure propaganda that's beyond even the hype Hollywood used to brainwash millions into thinking Justin Timberlake is actually talented.
At what point in time does the press get tired of playing the role of White House Communications Director? It's a post now vacant - but not really, given Charlie Gibson's innumerable softballs at Wednesday's infomercial at the White House, where ABC gave the administration a free, in-kind contribution so they might air their politics, minus any opposition.
And who said the folks at the old Pravda never found new employment?
For my money, don't hold your breath for serious discussions and responsible media coverage of the highest office holder in the Republic. Though many of my progressive friends seem to be more exhausted than my G.O.P. brethren regarding this ridiculous love fest, I don't see it dissipating. I mean, it's sort of like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - there may have been bumps in the road but they never fell out of love with eachother.
Accordingly, Governor Sanford has a silver lining to keep in mind as he's hunkered down after his revealing his intercontinental activities. He wasn't going to win anyway. Who could? Maybe Jesus, but I'm betting the press would still side with B.O. They'd definately scour Nazareth and conjur up some scandal.
You can't beat a president, or a candidate, who has the the press corp hypnotized.
Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Case in point, today's web edition (is there any other) of Politico.com where we are tutored on the actual dangers a president faces when he is, well, "perfect" (article link is - http://www.politico.com/news/s...
No, they are not speaking of former President Abraham Lincoln, but the rather newer President Barack Obama who is a "better father", a "better husband" and practices "better" dieting. For all we know he never suffers flagellant moments like the rest of us. So Politico scribe Eamon Javers has gone where no man has gone before, and delved into the potential political pitfalls for a president who is just too omnipotent for his own good. "The industry seems to be in collective awe of Obama," the author writes. Seems to be? Ya think? Really?
Even the bonafide conservatives are yielding to his Excellency's prowess in all things temporal. Tucker Carlson told Politico, "People naturally defer to others they think are superior."
The propaganda gets even thicker - even sickningly sweet. Newsweek's editor Evan Thomas recently proclaimed to fellow Obama sycophant Chris Matthews that the president is basically a Deity. "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God," said Thomas - though strangely he had no rosary beads in hand as he was providing this twisted take on the state of American affairs.
This historic Hyperbole on Obama is getting so thick, I can finally relate to the Great Molassis Flood of Boston in 1919 when a Molassis tank the size of Heaven burst, killing 21 people. It wasn't pretty, and neither is this sticky, political flood of pure propaganda that's beyond even the hype Hollywood used to brainwash millions into thinking Justin Timberlake is actually talented.
At what point in time does the press get tired of playing the role of White House Communications Director? It's a post now vacant - but not really, given Charlie Gibson's innumerable softballs at Wednesday's infomercial at the White House, where ABC gave the administration a free, in-kind contribution so they might air their politics, minus any opposition.
And who said the folks at the old Pravda never found new employment?
For my money, don't hold your breath for serious discussions and responsible media coverage of the highest office holder in the Republic. Though many of my progressive friends seem to be more exhausted than my G.O.P. brethren regarding this ridiculous love fest, I don't see it dissipating. I mean, it's sort of like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - there may have been bumps in the road but they never fell out of love with eachother.
Accordingly, Governor Sanford has a silver lining to keep in mind as he's hunkered down after his revealing his intercontinental activities. He wasn't going to win anyway. Who could? Maybe Jesus, but I'm betting the press would still side with B.O. They'd definately scour Nazareth and conjur up some scandal.
You can't beat a president, or a candidate, who has the the press corp hypnotized.
Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Democratic scandals are opening the door for a Mihos comeback.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Former House Speaker Sal Dimasi's perp walk last week, and his Monday arraignment, reveals more than the surreal fact that the South End can boast two former legislators and a current city councilor facing serious time in federal prison. Though it's probably yet to dawn on the gubernatorial head, I see it as a growing migraine for the chaotic and highly disappointing political machine belonging to Governor Deval Patrick and a boost to his likely G.O.P. adversary.
But first the meat of the matter. Sal DiMasi's gone rogue in the eyes of a grand jury because Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks convinced the panel that the recently retired commander in chief of the State House pocketed some serious quid pro quo cash courtesy of the software company COGNOS. The portrait is ugly; sort of like staring at an Andy Warhol painting for way too long. DiMasi allegedly used a funny funneling scheme to garner a little under $60,000 in exchange for navigating some beefy state contracts to COGNOS with the approval of unsuspecting - we think - Patrick Administration politicos. News reports say that various gubernatorial lieutenants were successfully lobbied by DiMasi on behalf of COGNOS and the governor has stated that he himself had some vague conversations with the x-speaker regarding the matter.
If found guilty, DiMasi would get out of prison right about the time Barack Obama's daughters are in their thirties. Really.
Speakers being indicted in Massachusetts is about as unusual as Kirstie Allie going on a diet. We've just sort of become used to it. But just on the face of it we can see that the DiMasi indictment is far more egregious than the legal sledge hammers brought down on his predecessors Charlie Flaherty and Tom Finneran in past years.
The Flaherty indictment was quintessential proof that you really can indict anything including a bologna sandwich. During the "scandal" the Boston Globe reported that then U.S. Attorney Donald Stern spent about seven million dollars dissecting Flaherty's life on the planet, only to come up with a teaspoon full of dirt - that his tax preparer had made a minor error on a federal return dating back to God knows when. In Finneran's case, he was less than candid in a civil deposition, but no one's yet to pin any old fashioned, Tamney Hall like bribery charges on the Mattapan Democrat. Finneran's "sentence" is having to work at WRKO with the irascible Howie Carr, where Carr regularly berates Finneran as the station's resident "convicted felon". That should be sufficient purgatory for anyone.
But what we are likely to see in the DiMasi trial will make the past legal proceedings against Flaherty and Finneran pale in comparison. Dimasi’s alleged crimes are just too naked. A bunch of hacks cruising on yachts and hitting golf balls while deciding who gets what state contract and what they'll pay up for the favor. Is it really all that different from organized crime? And, are any of so naive as to assume that COGNOS is the only company for which DiMasi was twisting arms?
But there are other insinuations emanating from this indictment which warrant thorough investigation by the U.S. Attorney, as well as the state's attorney general. The speaker, whether it be Sal DiMasi or Harry Potter, does not have the magic to get state funds into any business purses. It is the sole purview of the administration to award contracts and dispense state funds. What Patrick staffers did or didn't know as they inevitably approved millions of dollars in contracts for COGNOS has to be vetted to the full satisfaction of the public. And that very process will not produce the perception Deval Patrick wants or needs as he gears up for his 2010 reelection bid.
Sensing trouble on the horizon and still licking his wounds from polling data showing he’d likely lose a primary battle to potential challenger Tim Cahill, Patrick recently hired the proverbial 800 pound guerilla to retool his political machine. Barack Obama’s ‘08 campaign manager David Plouffe will try to keep the guv afloat, just as a heavy weight Republican strategist has joined the campaign of an already announced G.O.P. contender.
Republican Christy Mihos was sadly ignored by many in the media when he blew the whistle on Big Dig corruption. He ran a solid campaign for governor in 2006, and has announced a political second coming with the help of former Bill Clinton confidante Dick Morris. It’s a brilliant move for the convenient store magnate. Mihos bringing Morris on board shows that he’s serious about running a more comprehensive campaign next year; and Morris is no babe in the woods, having given birth to political careers from here to Tel Aviv.
When you consider the current environment, it’s remarkably similar to 1990 when an unlikely Republican named Bill Weld was lifted to the governor’s office on a wave of voter discontent with how the Democratic establishment was running state affairs.
This year, the issue is corruption on Beacon Hill and the need for change. If Mihos drives that message home, and he has the credibility to do it, he’ll be a worthy opponent to Patrick in 2010.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Former House Speaker Sal Dimasi's perp walk last week, and his Monday arraignment, reveals more than the surreal fact that the South End can boast two former legislators and a current city councilor facing serious time in federal prison. Though it's probably yet to dawn on the gubernatorial head, I see it as a growing migraine for the chaotic and highly disappointing political machine belonging to Governor Deval Patrick and a boost to his likely G.O.P. adversary.
But first the meat of the matter. Sal DiMasi's gone rogue in the eyes of a grand jury because Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks convinced the panel that the recently retired commander in chief of the State House pocketed some serious quid pro quo cash courtesy of the software company COGNOS. The portrait is ugly; sort of like staring at an Andy Warhol painting for way too long. DiMasi allegedly used a funny funneling scheme to garner a little under $60,000 in exchange for navigating some beefy state contracts to COGNOS with the approval of unsuspecting - we think - Patrick Administration politicos. News reports say that various gubernatorial lieutenants were successfully lobbied by DiMasi on behalf of COGNOS and the governor has stated that he himself had some vague conversations with the x-speaker regarding the matter.
If found guilty, DiMasi would get out of prison right about the time Barack Obama's daughters are in their thirties. Really.
Speakers being indicted in Massachusetts is about as unusual as Kirstie Allie going on a diet. We've just sort of become used to it. But just on the face of it we can see that the DiMasi indictment is far more egregious than the legal sledge hammers brought down on his predecessors Charlie Flaherty and Tom Finneran in past years.
The Flaherty indictment was quintessential proof that you really can indict anything including a bologna sandwich. During the "scandal" the Boston Globe reported that then U.S. Attorney Donald Stern spent about seven million dollars dissecting Flaherty's life on the planet, only to come up with a teaspoon full of dirt - that his tax preparer had made a minor error on a federal return dating back to God knows when. In Finneran's case, he was less than candid in a civil deposition, but no one's yet to pin any old fashioned, Tamney Hall like bribery charges on the Mattapan Democrat. Finneran's "sentence" is having to work at WRKO with the irascible Howie Carr, where Carr regularly berates Finneran as the station's resident "convicted felon". That should be sufficient purgatory for anyone.
But what we are likely to see in the DiMasi trial will make the past legal proceedings against Flaherty and Finneran pale in comparison. Dimasi’s alleged crimes are just too naked. A bunch of hacks cruising on yachts and hitting golf balls while deciding who gets what state contract and what they'll pay up for the favor. Is it really all that different from organized crime? And, are any of so naive as to assume that COGNOS is the only company for which DiMasi was twisting arms?
But there are other insinuations emanating from this indictment which warrant thorough investigation by the U.S. Attorney, as well as the state's attorney general. The speaker, whether it be Sal DiMasi or Harry Potter, does not have the magic to get state funds into any business purses. It is the sole purview of the administration to award contracts and dispense state funds. What Patrick staffers did or didn't know as they inevitably approved millions of dollars in contracts for COGNOS has to be vetted to the full satisfaction of the public. And that very process will not produce the perception Deval Patrick wants or needs as he gears up for his 2010 reelection bid.
Sensing trouble on the horizon and still licking his wounds from polling data showing he’d likely lose a primary battle to potential challenger Tim Cahill, Patrick recently hired the proverbial 800 pound guerilla to retool his political machine. Barack Obama’s ‘08 campaign manager David Plouffe will try to keep the guv afloat, just as a heavy weight Republican strategist has joined the campaign of an already announced G.O.P. contender.
Republican Christy Mihos was sadly ignored by many in the media when he blew the whistle on Big Dig corruption. He ran a solid campaign for governor in 2006, and has announced a political second coming with the help of former Bill Clinton confidante Dick Morris. It’s a brilliant move for the convenient store magnate. Mihos bringing Morris on board shows that he’s serious about running a more comprehensive campaign next year; and Morris is no babe in the woods, having given birth to political careers from here to Tel Aviv.
When you consider the current environment, it’s remarkably similar to 1990 when an unlikely Republican named Bill Weld was lifted to the governor’s office on a wave of voter discontent with how the Democratic establishment was running state affairs.
This year, the issue is corruption on Beacon Hill and the need for change. If Mihos drives that message home, and he has the credibility to do it, he’ll be a worthy opponent to Patrick in 2010.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Race is everything.
by Kevin Sowyrda
We're living in a crude time of racial centric politics. Nothing new, you say? Then check out the recent news concerning judiciary appointments in both Washington and Boston.
Everything is race. The only thing that matters in Obama era politics, in governing, in policy making, in political appointments and in the media is your race. And for the first time in history, it's not Caucasian imperialists who are directly reaping the benefits of their light skinned complexion. But in a more cunning, indirect way, it's the liberal establishment - the still mostly white, modern day power brokers - who are using the race of minorities to squelch the Conservative opposition and achieve the progressive agenda. It's as effective as it is Machiavellian.
Case in point, this week's presidential nomination of New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor wasn't picked because she's the reincarnation, in female visage, of Justice Brandies or because her intellect overshadows that of Stephen Hawking. She was picked because she's a Hispanic woman and Barack Obama, who remains in perpetual campaign mode, is sufficiently brilliant to realize that he can have all the liberal sycophants his appetite desires if he picks the presently in fashion, once out of fashion, brand of color.
That's because anyone who opposes this new color du jour must be a racist.
If you bring up Sotomayor's almost surreal ruling in Ricci vs. DeStafano, where in a painfully oblique edict she obliterated the test results for a group of Connecticut firefighters because an insufficient number of minorities were able to score high on the test, you'll be branded a racist quicker than Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow can coordinate their talking points with Rahm Emmanuel at the White House.
If you querie Sotomayor about her ruling that convicted felons should be able to vote, you'll definitely see Chris Matthews getting the wrong type of tingle up his leg and suddenly you're shish kabob on the Peacock Network.
If you dare to ask Sotomayor if she was being a little bit too polarizing when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life", the Washington Post is going to call you Hispanic Hater of the month and quote an anonymous source that you use the "spik" word while imbibing at South Boston taverns.
So the nomination process will be as smooth as silk. We'll hear the usual suspects on the senate judiciary committee gush, with tear filled eyes, about Sotomayor's up from the boot straps story. That one always resonates when it's about a liberal nominee. Sadly, we can't talk about up from the boot straps stories of more conservative jurists like Clarence Thomas, who grew up in impoverished Pin Point Georgia and was homeless as a little boy after a fire burned down his family home.
And it's even a twofer. As political scientists on both sides of the aisle predict that the Hispanic vote will only continue to swell, a savvy politician like Mr. Obama is not going to be outflanked by Republicans, who have previously forged cordial relations with Hispanic Americans because of the G.O.P.'s historic position on Cuba. Those policies are as moribund as Fidel himself, and Obama knows that a quota system for Hispanics is the new route to that growing demographic and a key ingredient for his 2012 prospects.
Locally, the racial centric trend is no less intense and obvious than on the national stage. Carmen M. Ortiz has just received the papal blessing from Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to be the new U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. The panel that recommended her clearly intimated that Carmen, one of three finalists, was actually second in qualifications to prominent local jurists Michael Keating and Martin Murphy, but that her status as a Latina gave her the edge.
Atleast they were honest.
by Kevin Sowyrda
We're living in a crude time of racial centric politics. Nothing new, you say? Then check out the recent news concerning judiciary appointments in both Washington and Boston.
Everything is race. The only thing that matters in Obama era politics, in governing, in policy making, in political appointments and in the media is your race. And for the first time in history, it's not Caucasian imperialists who are directly reaping the benefits of their light skinned complexion. But in a more cunning, indirect way, it's the liberal establishment - the still mostly white, modern day power brokers - who are using the race of minorities to squelch the Conservative opposition and achieve the progressive agenda. It's as effective as it is Machiavellian.
Case in point, this week's presidential nomination of New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor wasn't picked because she's the reincarnation, in female visage, of Justice Brandies or because her intellect overshadows that of Stephen Hawking. She was picked because she's a Hispanic woman and Barack Obama, who remains in perpetual campaign mode, is sufficiently brilliant to realize that he can have all the liberal sycophants his appetite desires if he picks the presently in fashion, once out of fashion, brand of color.
That's because anyone who opposes this new color du jour must be a racist.
If you bring up Sotomayor's almost surreal ruling in Ricci vs. DeStafano, where in a painfully oblique edict she obliterated the test results for a group of Connecticut firefighters because an insufficient number of minorities were able to score high on the test, you'll be branded a racist quicker than Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow can coordinate their talking points with Rahm Emmanuel at the White House.
If you querie Sotomayor about her ruling that convicted felons should be able to vote, you'll definitely see Chris Matthews getting the wrong type of tingle up his leg and suddenly you're shish kabob on the Peacock Network.
If you dare to ask Sotomayor if she was being a little bit too polarizing when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life", the Washington Post is going to call you Hispanic Hater of the month and quote an anonymous source that you use the "spik" word while imbibing at South Boston taverns.
So the nomination process will be as smooth as silk. We'll hear the usual suspects on the senate judiciary committee gush, with tear filled eyes, about Sotomayor's up from the boot straps story. That one always resonates when it's about a liberal nominee. Sadly, we can't talk about up from the boot straps stories of more conservative jurists like Clarence Thomas, who grew up in impoverished Pin Point Georgia and was homeless as a little boy after a fire burned down his family home.
And it's even a twofer. As political scientists on both sides of the aisle predict that the Hispanic vote will only continue to swell, a savvy politician like Mr. Obama is not going to be outflanked by Republicans, who have previously forged cordial relations with Hispanic Americans because of the G.O.P.'s historic position on Cuba. Those policies are as moribund as Fidel himself, and Obama knows that a quota system for Hispanics is the new route to that growing demographic and a key ingredient for his 2012 prospects.
Locally, the racial centric trend is no less intense and obvious than on the national stage. Carmen M. Ortiz has just received the papal blessing from Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to be the new U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. The panel that recommended her clearly intimated that Carmen, one of three finalists, was actually second in qualifications to prominent local jurists Michael Keating and Martin Murphy, but that her status as a Latina gave her the edge.
Atleast they were honest.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
There's a more civil way to debate.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Miss California and Barack Obama have something interesting in common. They are both opposed to gay marriage. It didn't cost Obama the presidency, but it probably did cost Miss California two things; the bigger crown she was expecting at the recent Miss America contest and any hope for a decent dialogue on her position, with which I take strong exception.
The public pillaging Carrie Prejean has suffered at the hands of liberals who forget what the word really means has been painful to view. The lynching's been led by, among others, the insufferable duet of Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto and MSNBC democratic commentator Keith Olberman, who believe that when a woman disagrees with the gay boys and the not so gay boys she's to be shreded like so much bad pork. But first some background for those of you who've been underground, hiding from the Swine Flu that's going to end the world as we know it.
Miss California or Prejean was asked by Gay Blogger Perez Hilton, who was serving as a pageant judge at the April 19 Miss America contest, what her position was on Gay marriage. Prejean articulated this frank and diplomatic answer. "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." When you think about it, Prejean's response hardly differed from Obama's recent words on the subject, “marriage is only between a man and a woman.”
But Prejean doesn't have that Obama Teflon and now she knows what a fish feels like when being prepared as sushi. No sooner had the pageant concluded that Perez got the hate ball rolling by posting a Rosie O'Donnell like video on his web page where he called Prejian a "bitch" and some other childish derogatives, none of which should be flabbergasting given the source. Hilton's bite and infamy date back to before August 17, 2007 when he reported on his web page that Fidel Castro had died and further insisted that he was the first person in the world to report it. He's right. He's the only person to have reported that. Hilton is also nothing less than a lightening rod of controversy not just because he declares living people dead but also for outing notables in the world of pop culture gliteria, and not because they've ever lifted a finger against the Gay Community. There's no way Hilton has any anger issues going on, is there?
So not to be outdone in the category of venomous castigators, Keith Olberman invited his soul mate Michael Musto to his cave at MSNBC to dissect Prejean further; for her physique and a host of other taboo, personal issues. It's the type of commentary Rush Limbaugh would have shyed away from. Here's how the dyspeptic Musto described Prejean. "This is the kind of girl who sits on the TV and watches the sofa. You know, she thinks innuendo is a Italian suppository. Can I keep going? On the pageants now, they really should have easier questions, like what’s your middle name or what show was Seinfeld on. I mean, this girl’s a ding-dong. I didn’t even like her earrings." And it degenerated further. Said Musto, "they also paid for Carrie to cut off her penis, and sand her Adam’s Apple and get a head-to-toe waxing. I know for a fact that Carrie Prejean was Harry Prejean, a homophobic man, who liked marriage so much he did it three times. Now he’s a babe who needs a brain implant. Maybe they could inject some fat from her butt. Oh, they have?"
Olberman revels in this potty mouth routine and chimed in with some old fashioned woman bashing typical for his caustic demeanor, including a stream of references to Prejean's breasts and the completely outlandish thought that Perez Hilton is now an "intellectual giant" for his performance as a hard hitting beauty pageant official.
It's disgusting. When men are allowed to pile on like this and eviscerate a woman whose crime against humanity is stating her opinion, the true meaning of liberal has been perverted by people who are no more liberal than was Jerry Falwell. All their doing is churning the pot of hate speak in an attempt to vilify anyone who dares to subscribe, however tactfully, to an opinion that differs from their own theology. Olberman preaches ad hominem that that's what the Republicans do. Clearly he's projecting. It's what he himself does as do so many of his liberal comrades who don't know what liberal really means and have spent the past days nailing Carrie Prejean to the cross.
Liberal means a woman should be allowed to freely and independently say what she thinks without men ridiculing and demeaning her to the point that the transcripts begin to read like sordid material written by Larry Flynt for Hustler Magazine. Liberal means people who disagree with you are your opponents, but not your enemies. To travel the other path is to go the way of Nixon.
For the life of me, I don't know why the Miss California-Prejeans of the world should be bothered if a Gay couple marries. It seems to me we've got ample supply of hate in this world and anything we can do to foster loving and committed relationships should be inviting to all. But there's something intellectually degenerate about countering those who dissent on the marriage issue by employing debating tactics from the Iranian Parliament.
We're better than that and any woman, even Miss California, should not suffer such violent, verbal abuse at the hands of the male dominated liberal establishment.
by Kevin Sowyrda
Miss California and Barack Obama have something interesting in common. They are both opposed to gay marriage. It didn't cost Obama the presidency, but it probably did cost Miss California two things; the bigger crown she was expecting at the recent Miss America contest and any hope for a decent dialogue on her position, with which I take strong exception.
The public pillaging Carrie Prejean has suffered at the hands of liberals who forget what the word really means has been painful to view. The lynching's been led by, among others, the insufferable duet of Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto and MSNBC democratic commentator Keith Olberman, who believe that when a woman disagrees with the gay boys and the not so gay boys she's to be shreded like so much bad pork. But first some background for those of you who've been underground, hiding from the Swine Flu that's going to end the world as we know it.
Miss California or Prejean was asked by Gay Blogger Perez Hilton, who was serving as a pageant judge at the April 19 Miss America contest, what her position was on Gay marriage. Prejean articulated this frank and diplomatic answer. "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." When you think about it, Prejean's response hardly differed from Obama's recent words on the subject, “marriage is only between a man and a woman.”
But Prejean doesn't have that Obama Teflon and now she knows what a fish feels like when being prepared as sushi. No sooner had the pageant concluded that Perez got the hate ball rolling by posting a Rosie O'Donnell like video on his web page where he called Prejian a "bitch" and some other childish derogatives, none of which should be flabbergasting given the source. Hilton's bite and infamy date back to before August 17, 2007 when he reported on his web page that Fidel Castro had died and further insisted that he was the first person in the world to report it. He's right. He's the only person to have reported that. Hilton is also nothing less than a lightening rod of controversy not just because he declares living people dead but also for outing notables in the world of pop culture gliteria, and not because they've ever lifted a finger against the Gay Community. There's no way Hilton has any anger issues going on, is there?
So not to be outdone in the category of venomous castigators, Keith Olberman invited his soul mate Michael Musto to his cave at MSNBC to dissect Prejean further; for her physique and a host of other taboo, personal issues. It's the type of commentary Rush Limbaugh would have shyed away from. Here's how the dyspeptic Musto described Prejean. "This is the kind of girl who sits on the TV and watches the sofa. You know, she thinks innuendo is a Italian suppository. Can I keep going? On the pageants now, they really should have easier questions, like what’s your middle name or what show was Seinfeld on. I mean, this girl’s a ding-dong. I didn’t even like her earrings." And it degenerated further. Said Musto, "they also paid for Carrie to cut off her penis, and sand her Adam’s Apple and get a head-to-toe waxing. I know for a fact that Carrie Prejean was Harry Prejean, a homophobic man, who liked marriage so much he did it three times. Now he’s a babe who needs a brain implant. Maybe they could inject some fat from her butt. Oh, they have?"
Olberman revels in this potty mouth routine and chimed in with some old fashioned woman bashing typical for his caustic demeanor, including a stream of references to Prejean's breasts and the completely outlandish thought that Perez Hilton is now an "intellectual giant" for his performance as a hard hitting beauty pageant official.
It's disgusting. When men are allowed to pile on like this and eviscerate a woman whose crime against humanity is stating her opinion, the true meaning of liberal has been perverted by people who are no more liberal than was Jerry Falwell. All their doing is churning the pot of hate speak in an attempt to vilify anyone who dares to subscribe, however tactfully, to an opinion that differs from their own theology. Olberman preaches ad hominem that that's what the Republicans do. Clearly he's projecting. It's what he himself does as do so many of his liberal comrades who don't know what liberal really means and have spent the past days nailing Carrie Prejean to the cross.
Liberal means a woman should be allowed to freely and independently say what she thinks without men ridiculing and demeaning her to the point that the transcripts begin to read like sordid material written by Larry Flynt for Hustler Magazine. Liberal means people who disagree with you are your opponents, but not your enemies. To travel the other path is to go the way of Nixon.
For the life of me, I don't know why the Miss California-Prejeans of the world should be bothered if a Gay couple marries. It seems to me we've got ample supply of hate in this world and anything we can do to foster loving and committed relationships should be inviting to all. But there's something intellectually degenerate about countering those who dissent on the marriage issue by employing debating tactics from the Iranian Parliament.
We're better than that and any woman, even Miss California, should not suffer such violent, verbal abuse at the hands of the male dominated liberal establishment.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Mayor's race.......
A personal bond, hard to break this November.
by Kevin Sowyrda
When I met Tom Menino for lunch, Friday last, at the Dry Dock Cafe in the ever transforming Southie Waterfront District I made two strategic decisions. The first, was that I would try the Haddock because my friend Susan told me it's the best in the Hub. She was right. The second was that I was not going to interview Mayor Menino. Instead, I decided to have a conversation with Tom Menino, and from the friendly and straight forward discussion that ensued I discovered a guy who is pretty hard not to like and will be very hard to beat in what will be the mayor's bid for a fifth term as the city's chief executive officer.
Tom Menino didn't tell me he's running for reelection and I didn't ask. Tom Menino didn't tell me that he's ready for a political fight, and I'm not so dumb that I needed to ask. He's always ready. But Tom Menino told me in so many words, and through gestures, inflections and other mannerisms that he loves the city so much that not being mayor is simply something Tom Menino's not able to do. And it's not a power trip. It's just a genuine love affair. The type of Frank Sinatra, might have written a song about.
It was days after our lunch, on Tuesday, that Menino did make his bid for an unprecedented fifth term official. No surprise there.
I think the surprise will be how Menino runs his campaign. In this modern-day pandemic of cyber personality - i.e. twitter, face book, IM's, text messaging, email and all the rest of the no real human contact - Menino, at first glance, is the old fashioned exception to the trends of the day. But it has nothing to do with being out dated. Instead, Menino strikes me as above the gadgetry gimmicks because they're beneath his unbeatable work ethic. As a veteran of city politics, known for rising well before dawn and burning enough midnight oil to dry out OPEC, Menino's a lot smarter than the Twitters. He's more sympathetic than the Face book crowd. He realizes that Joe and Mary Bostonian prefer the personal touch to the You Tube politicking any day of the week. It's even paid off in political dividends. A recent Boston Globe poll shows that more than half of city residents say they've actually met the mayor in person and His Honor's popularity ratings remain high, despite a foundering economy from which Boston has hardly been immune.
So on this particular Friday, Menino does what he does best. While chatting with yours truly about everything from the failed lights-out policy at the Zakim Bridge to the recent Easter Weekend traffic debacle at the Mass. Turnpike Authority tolls, he smoothly takes time out here and there, between bites of the clams with bellies and sips of the ice tea with lemon, to warmly greet the regular constituents who come to our lunch table at a steady pace to pay their respects and share a musing or two. He knows each one by name and knows just what to ask. How did that situation work out, how is so and so, did my folks get back to you, etc. Menino may not speak like he's the Socrates of the day, but how he's able to brilliantly remember all these names and all their problems right off the cuff is impressive and would appear to be proof positive that Tom Menino is a smart guy who simply chooses not to use a lot of fifty cent words - and his particularly homespun style, even in the blackberry, techno age - has hardly hurt him since he assumed leadership of the city in the early nineties upon the resignation of then Mayor Raymond Flynn.
So what makes this guy tick? I think what we've overlooked - or at least I have on sufficient occasion - is that Tom Menino is a people guy and a people guy can't retire. Before he'd send you an email he'd prefer being at your local bakery at about five in the morning ready to hear what you have to say and then jumping back in his new Hybrid vehicle to call the right department head to fix the problem. I'm' willing to guess that about a thousand pot holes in this city have been promptly fixed simply because a constituent asked the mayor to do it, and then he did.
Imagine that. I'm sitting here with a politician who you can actually go up to and then get something done as a result of a quick dialogue. He might even be the last of his breed, and I don't sense any huge movement in the city to send Tom Menino to that place which I sense he may equate to Purgatory - i.e. retirement. Boca Raton might sound inviting to the rest of us, but not this guy. Menino isn't heading for Boca - he's marching forward to a reelection campaign against three contenders who may not even appreciate the juggernaut they're up against. "He has the most tireless work ethic of any official I've ever seen," said City Councilor Rob Consalvo. "He has a laser like focus on the job and what peoples' problems are. He's the ultimate grass roots mayor."
But back to the niceties of dining in Southie with the most recognizable politician in New England. Does Tom have any particular gripes on this beautiful Marathon weekend, as we break bread together for the first time in too long a time? Not really. He arrived with Dot Joyce, the best and most reliable press secretary he's ever had, and seems excited about the positive lime light on Boston, hopefully assuaging the tragic story of the past days concerning the Craigs list Killer, a case solved in record time by D.A. Conley and Boston Police. We're even introduced to a visiting foreign dignitary - I think it was the High Lord Mayor of London - whose taking in all things Boston before the start gun fires on Monday. The Mayor is pretty pumped. When he toiled for nine years as the district councilor from Boston's Hyde Park he probably didn't imagine all this - but fate works it's magic, doesn't it?
And Menino keeps working his magic - or maybe it's just a Midas touch he was destined to yield in the mayor's office. I ask him about the rather glaring juxtaposition between state and city government, of late. While Governor Deval Patrick has been having a less than marvelous time lately......being governor........Menino's principality has been relatively free from controversy. No state senators being offered silly job deals, no ludicrous trail of emails from staffers, and no hideous traffic jams triggered by any of the mayor's cabinet members. The mayor's not one to criticize the governor (I'm guessing he'll leave that to folks like me) but he makes it pretty clear that on his watch toll booths wouldn't be shut down so that people can admire, for hours, the beautiful pavement at the Mass Pike.
The mayor pretty much brings the episode back home, and emphasis that his style of leadership is polar opposite that of some big time bureaucrats. It's anything but hands off. If he sees a problem he gets it fixed, and chances are there are plenty of department heads and their deputies and City Hall Plaza who have their early morning or late night call stories about a call to action from the boss. Sort of like what Hillary said. What will you do if the phone rings at three o'clock in the morning? I suspect the answer from city hall officials would be - do what he tells me to do because he doesn't suffer fools well.
But he does suffer atleast one slight with dignity. By the time I finished the perfectly cooked Haddock I asked Menino what he thought about a no lights policy at the Zakim; keeping in mind that I've always considered the spectacular array of blue lighting in the evening to be the one meritorious aspect of a bridge which should never win any architectural hurrahs. Believe it or not, the brain trust at the Turn Pike Authority never consulted with the mayor. "I learned about it by reading the paper," he said. But he wasn't angry nor thin skinned about it. It's as if the mayor has become used to a state government that often forgets the basic rules of protocol, and he's just happy the lights are back on, the way they should be.
Should this column leave any of your questions about Tom Menino unanswered, don't fret. Just keep your eyes open long enough and you'll see the Mayor pretty much everywhere in the city greeting pretty much everybody by name. His opponents will have the formidable task of competing with that personal bond. It took decades of hard work to build, and no one's likely to break it without a prolific message and a great deal of luck.
by Kevin Sowyrda
When I met Tom Menino for lunch, Friday last, at the Dry Dock Cafe in the ever transforming Southie Waterfront District I made two strategic decisions. The first, was that I would try the Haddock because my friend Susan told me it's the best in the Hub. She was right. The second was that I was not going to interview Mayor Menino. Instead, I decided to have a conversation with Tom Menino, and from the friendly and straight forward discussion that ensued I discovered a guy who is pretty hard not to like and will be very hard to beat in what will be the mayor's bid for a fifth term as the city's chief executive officer.
Tom Menino didn't tell me he's running for reelection and I didn't ask. Tom Menino didn't tell me that he's ready for a political fight, and I'm not so dumb that I needed to ask. He's always ready. But Tom Menino told me in so many words, and through gestures, inflections and other mannerisms that he loves the city so much that not being mayor is simply something Tom Menino's not able to do. And it's not a power trip. It's just a genuine love affair. The type of Frank Sinatra, might have written a song about.
It was days after our lunch, on Tuesday, that Menino did make his bid for an unprecedented fifth term official. No surprise there.
I think the surprise will be how Menino runs his campaign. In this modern-day pandemic of cyber personality - i.e. twitter, face book, IM's, text messaging, email and all the rest of the no real human contact - Menino, at first glance, is the old fashioned exception to the trends of the day. But it has nothing to do with being out dated. Instead, Menino strikes me as above the gadgetry gimmicks because they're beneath his unbeatable work ethic. As a veteran of city politics, known for rising well before dawn and burning enough midnight oil to dry out OPEC, Menino's a lot smarter than the Twitters. He's more sympathetic than the Face book crowd. He realizes that Joe and Mary Bostonian prefer the personal touch to the You Tube politicking any day of the week. It's even paid off in political dividends. A recent Boston Globe poll shows that more than half of city residents say they've actually met the mayor in person and His Honor's popularity ratings remain high, despite a foundering economy from which Boston has hardly been immune.
So on this particular Friday, Menino does what he does best. While chatting with yours truly about everything from the failed lights-out policy at the Zakim Bridge to the recent Easter Weekend traffic debacle at the Mass. Turnpike Authority tolls, he smoothly takes time out here and there, between bites of the clams with bellies and sips of the ice tea with lemon, to warmly greet the regular constituents who come to our lunch table at a steady pace to pay their respects and share a musing or two. He knows each one by name and knows just what to ask. How did that situation work out, how is so and so, did my folks get back to you, etc. Menino may not speak like he's the Socrates of the day, but how he's able to brilliantly remember all these names and all their problems right off the cuff is impressive and would appear to be proof positive that Tom Menino is a smart guy who simply chooses not to use a lot of fifty cent words - and his particularly homespun style, even in the blackberry, techno age - has hardly hurt him since he assumed leadership of the city in the early nineties upon the resignation of then Mayor Raymond Flynn.
So what makes this guy tick? I think what we've overlooked - or at least I have on sufficient occasion - is that Tom Menino is a people guy and a people guy can't retire. Before he'd send you an email he'd prefer being at your local bakery at about five in the morning ready to hear what you have to say and then jumping back in his new Hybrid vehicle to call the right department head to fix the problem. I'm' willing to guess that about a thousand pot holes in this city have been promptly fixed simply because a constituent asked the mayor to do it, and then he did.
Imagine that. I'm sitting here with a politician who you can actually go up to and then get something done as a result of a quick dialogue. He might even be the last of his breed, and I don't sense any huge movement in the city to send Tom Menino to that place which I sense he may equate to Purgatory - i.e. retirement. Boca Raton might sound inviting to the rest of us, but not this guy. Menino isn't heading for Boca - he's marching forward to a reelection campaign against three contenders who may not even appreciate the juggernaut they're up against. "He has the most tireless work ethic of any official I've ever seen," said City Councilor Rob Consalvo. "He has a laser like focus on the job and what peoples' problems are. He's the ultimate grass roots mayor."
But back to the niceties of dining in Southie with the most recognizable politician in New England. Does Tom have any particular gripes on this beautiful Marathon weekend, as we break bread together for the first time in too long a time? Not really. He arrived with Dot Joyce, the best and most reliable press secretary he's ever had, and seems excited about the positive lime light on Boston, hopefully assuaging the tragic story of the past days concerning the Craigs list Killer, a case solved in record time by D.A. Conley and Boston Police. We're even introduced to a visiting foreign dignitary - I think it was the High Lord Mayor of London - whose taking in all things Boston before the start gun fires on Monday. The Mayor is pretty pumped. When he toiled for nine years as the district councilor from Boston's Hyde Park he probably didn't imagine all this - but fate works it's magic, doesn't it?
And Menino keeps working his magic - or maybe it's just a Midas touch he was destined to yield in the mayor's office. I ask him about the rather glaring juxtaposition between state and city government, of late. While Governor Deval Patrick has been having a less than marvelous time lately......being governor........Menino's principality has been relatively free from controversy. No state senators being offered silly job deals, no ludicrous trail of emails from staffers, and no hideous traffic jams triggered by any of the mayor's cabinet members. The mayor's not one to criticize the governor (I'm guessing he'll leave that to folks like me) but he makes it pretty clear that on his watch toll booths wouldn't be shut down so that people can admire, for hours, the beautiful pavement at the Mass Pike.
The mayor pretty much brings the episode back home, and emphasis that his style of leadership is polar opposite that of some big time bureaucrats. It's anything but hands off. If he sees a problem he gets it fixed, and chances are there are plenty of department heads and their deputies and City Hall Plaza who have their early morning or late night call stories about a call to action from the boss. Sort of like what Hillary said. What will you do if the phone rings at three o'clock in the morning? I suspect the answer from city hall officials would be - do what he tells me to do because he doesn't suffer fools well.
But he does suffer atleast one slight with dignity. By the time I finished the perfectly cooked Haddock I asked Menino what he thought about a no lights policy at the Zakim; keeping in mind that I've always considered the spectacular array of blue lighting in the evening to be the one meritorious aspect of a bridge which should never win any architectural hurrahs. Believe it or not, the brain trust at the Turn Pike Authority never consulted with the mayor. "I learned about it by reading the paper," he said. But he wasn't angry nor thin skinned about it. It's as if the mayor has become used to a state government that often forgets the basic rules of protocol, and he's just happy the lights are back on, the way they should be.
Should this column leave any of your questions about Tom Menino unanswered, don't fret. Just keep your eyes open long enough and you'll see the Mayor pretty much everywhere in the city greeting pretty much everybody by name. His opponents will have the formidable task of competing with that personal bond. It took decades of hard work to build, and no one's likely to break it without a prolific message and a great deal of luck.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Governor stumbles.
Patrick’s Helen
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Wednesday Apr 1, 2009
Does anybody remember the Prince of Troy of Greek mythology, a rather naive young lad named Paris? Paris decides to steal one undoubtedly beautiful royal named Helen, who awkwardly enough was unblissfully married to the enemy of all the people of Troy, King Menelaus of Sparta.
Suddenly, Troy is besieged by Helen’s aggrieved husband, who wasn’t too thrilled to see Paris abscond with his wife. To make a long Greek tragedy short, the entire kingdom of Troy was quite unceremoniously burned to the ground because of one man’s obsession with pleasing a woman nobody had ever heard of.
Sound familiar?
Gov. Deval Patrick apparently rented the DVD Troy and took Orlando Bloom’s character, Paris, way too much to heart. I’ll grant you that state Sen. Marian Walsh - our modern day Helen - may not be a Greek Princess, but exactly why the governor and his staff have spent so many invaluable hours, and nearly all their credibility, doing whatever is required to please Helen - I mean Sen. Walsh - is the vexing question of the day.
A veteran lawmaker from Boston, Walsh was an early Patrick political recruit and her reward was to be a posh patronage appointment to one of the more remote agencies on the map of state government, where the senator would have settled down for at least $120,000 annually. The post has been vacant for a dozen years, and it’s been a lightning rod for voter discontent since news of the deal with Walsh was first made public. On March 31 Walsh said she’d remain in the Senate and decline the pomp and circumstance of patronage because the public response to her gubernatorial gift had created a "tsunami." As if that will repair the damage already done to the governor. This childish affair has cost him dearly and voters are telling a local pollster they’re ready to jump ship.
After pension scandals, no-show jobs, state senators being indicted, a transportation secretary gone amuck and the revelation of e-mails showing that Patrick aides orchestrated Walsh’s hiring despite their claims to the contrary, I think many of us who supported Patrick have pretty much had our fill. I thought Patrick to be the "different" Beacon Hill leader. But I was wrong, and the growing Tom Foolery of this administration is not only a deal-breaker but a bizarre juxtaposition when you consider that the governor is clearly very caring and highly educated. But his political sensibilities are clearly not well honed.
The problem for Patrick is that the average voter has become beleaguered with the governor and his party’s shenanigans at the State House, and few feel obliged to coddle a state government that increasingly resembles the political horror show of Patrick’s hometown, Chicago. As one prominent but disappointed Patrick fundraiser told me this week, "He’s not the guy I supported. If Cahill runs against Patrick, I’m now with Cahill."
Who is Cahill? Ironically, he’s the political invention of Patrick’s own chief of staff, Doug Rubin. Tim Cahill is the Democratic state treasurer and recent polling data is basically telling Cahill that if he wants to be governor Patrick is paving the path.
Cahill once faced the seemingly impossible task of running statewide against another man with the same last name. It was like figuring out a Rubik’s Cube, but Cahill’s campaign, then managed by Rubin, came out with a hilarious ad featuring Tim Cahill’s young daughter telling voters they could distinguish between this Cahill and that Cahill with the slogan "Tim for treasurer."
It was so perfectly cute it worked like a charm, and Cahill’s now sitting pretty on about $3 million in campaign funds and should be encouraged to run by the Channel 7/Suffolk University poll showing the treasurer besting Patrick in a head-to-head race.
It’s the first time in years an incumbent governor is facing defeat in his own primary; but not the first time that the catalyst for the incumbent’s downfall was a rather microcosmic issue, all things considered. But just as Gov. Ed King was beaten in his 1982 primary race by Mike Dukakis, largely over endless coverage of King having purchased lobster sandwiches for his state trooper detail (I’m not kidding), Patrick has created sufficient fodder for his opponents just by being the Patrick we didn’t really know.
For my money, Cahill jumps in and would be lacking that carpe diem thing if he did otherwise. Shamelessly juvenile e-mails amongst numerous Patrick staffers, reported in the press in recent days, showcase the unprofessional conduct on the part of gubernatorial lieutenants who should be working for the public’s benefit, and not Sen. Walsh’s. As a result, the image of Patrick as the different "Yes we can" leader has been permanently tarnished, if not entirely diminished.
By the way, I actually don’t even believe the Suffolk poll showing Cahill beating Patrick by five. Right about now, the spread would be more like ten points.
Kevin John Sowrdya is a political columnist who writes for South End News and Bay Windows, as well as other publications. He can be reached at kevinsow@aol.com.
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Wednesday Apr 1, 2009
Does anybody remember the Prince of Troy of Greek mythology, a rather naive young lad named Paris? Paris decides to steal one undoubtedly beautiful royal named Helen, who awkwardly enough was unblissfully married to the enemy of all the people of Troy, King Menelaus of Sparta.
Suddenly, Troy is besieged by Helen’s aggrieved husband, who wasn’t too thrilled to see Paris abscond with his wife. To make a long Greek tragedy short, the entire kingdom of Troy was quite unceremoniously burned to the ground because of one man’s obsession with pleasing a woman nobody had ever heard of.
Sound familiar?
Gov. Deval Patrick apparently rented the DVD Troy and took Orlando Bloom’s character, Paris, way too much to heart. I’ll grant you that state Sen. Marian Walsh - our modern day Helen - may not be a Greek Princess, but exactly why the governor and his staff have spent so many invaluable hours, and nearly all their credibility, doing whatever is required to please Helen - I mean Sen. Walsh - is the vexing question of the day.
A veteran lawmaker from Boston, Walsh was an early Patrick political recruit and her reward was to be a posh patronage appointment to one of the more remote agencies on the map of state government, where the senator would have settled down for at least $120,000 annually. The post has been vacant for a dozen years, and it’s been a lightning rod for voter discontent since news of the deal with Walsh was first made public. On March 31 Walsh said she’d remain in the Senate and decline the pomp and circumstance of patronage because the public response to her gubernatorial gift had created a "tsunami." As if that will repair the damage already done to the governor. This childish affair has cost him dearly and voters are telling a local pollster they’re ready to jump ship.
After pension scandals, no-show jobs, state senators being indicted, a transportation secretary gone amuck and the revelation of e-mails showing that Patrick aides orchestrated Walsh’s hiring despite their claims to the contrary, I think many of us who supported Patrick have pretty much had our fill. I thought Patrick to be the "different" Beacon Hill leader. But I was wrong, and the growing Tom Foolery of this administration is not only a deal-breaker but a bizarre juxtaposition when you consider that the governor is clearly very caring and highly educated. But his political sensibilities are clearly not well honed.
The problem for Patrick is that the average voter has become beleaguered with the governor and his party’s shenanigans at the State House, and few feel obliged to coddle a state government that increasingly resembles the political horror show of Patrick’s hometown, Chicago. As one prominent but disappointed Patrick fundraiser told me this week, "He’s not the guy I supported. If Cahill runs against Patrick, I’m now with Cahill."
Who is Cahill? Ironically, he’s the political invention of Patrick’s own chief of staff, Doug Rubin. Tim Cahill is the Democratic state treasurer and recent polling data is basically telling Cahill that if he wants to be governor Patrick is paving the path.
Cahill once faced the seemingly impossible task of running statewide against another man with the same last name. It was like figuring out a Rubik’s Cube, but Cahill’s campaign, then managed by Rubin, came out with a hilarious ad featuring Tim Cahill’s young daughter telling voters they could distinguish between this Cahill and that Cahill with the slogan "Tim for treasurer."
It was so perfectly cute it worked like a charm, and Cahill’s now sitting pretty on about $3 million in campaign funds and should be encouraged to run by the Channel 7/Suffolk University poll showing the treasurer besting Patrick in a head-to-head race.
It’s the first time in years an incumbent governor is facing defeat in his own primary; but not the first time that the catalyst for the incumbent’s downfall was a rather microcosmic issue, all things considered. But just as Gov. Ed King was beaten in his 1982 primary race by Mike Dukakis, largely over endless coverage of King having purchased lobster sandwiches for his state trooper detail (I’m not kidding), Patrick has created sufficient fodder for his opponents just by being the Patrick we didn’t really know.
For my money, Cahill jumps in and would be lacking that carpe diem thing if he did otherwise. Shamelessly juvenile e-mails amongst numerous Patrick staffers, reported in the press in recent days, showcase the unprofessional conduct on the part of gubernatorial lieutenants who should be working for the public’s benefit, and not Sen. Walsh’s. As a result, the image of Patrick as the different "Yes we can" leader has been permanently tarnished, if not entirely diminished.
By the way, I actually don’t even believe the Suffolk poll showing Cahill beating Patrick by five. Right about now, the spread would be more like ten points.
Kevin John Sowrdya is a political columnist who writes for South End News and Bay Windows, as well as other publications. He can be reached at kevinsow@aol.com.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Police reform in Massachusetts
Time to rein in the police and support Chairman Costello’s reform efforts
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Thursday Feb 26, 2009
First in a new series regarding police culture in the Commonwealth.
So where’s the outrage? In a state which prides itself as the "Athens of America," not just for cultural reasons but because we claim to cherish civil liberties, barely an eyelid is raised when the cops toss a prominent talk show host in jail because a computer screen in a police cruiser says the subject didn’t pay a lousy car insurance bill in a southern state from which he moved years ago. How can this lackadaisical attitude toward police excess be so prevalent in the Massachusetts birthed by Sam Adams and governed by a Democratic majority which tells us that the eight years of George Bush and the Patriot Act are dead and buried and constitutional rights are back in fashion?
But I guess I missed the fashion show. Police powers in Massachusetts are completely out of control and each of us has our own, particular horror story to tell about an outrageous cop who seems poised to go postal or whose grasp of the truth is lose at best. And this dilemma is particularly acute given my observation that our elected officials fear the unions representing the constabulary forces more than they respect the voters. Thus, even if conservative gabber Michael Graham is not your cup of tea, you should not find it appetizing that a police officer can throw him or you in jail because the Intel Chips running the registry of motor vehicles in another jurisdiction revoke your driver’s license for a reason of minutia.
To be blunt, I’m not exactly a Michael Graham fan myself. It’s in this very column that I once took the local talk master to the wood shed for his lame attempt at an interview with Congressman Barney Frank. But that’s not the point. Deciding what kind of a state we want to live in, both as progressives and conservatives, is the issue in need of a healthy and open debate; and Graham, or for that matter any citizen of this Commonwealth, being handcuffed and thrown into jail for a simplistic, bureaucratic issue is a situation worthy of debate and due consideration.
Graham was more whimsical than contrite when he recently told his audience that he managed to make his 9:00 a.m. gab shift on WTKK FM only after having suffered undue humiliation in Framingham, where police detained him for what they allege was a minor moving violation. After the perfunctory plate and registration check at the scene, officials told Graham his license had been suspended and that they would have to handcuff and jail him.
An ad hominem of hieroglyphics from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, issued to the press in the aftermath of this ludicrous police action, can best be deciphered to mean that the Confederacy rises again. Virginia apparently declares that Graham didn’t pay his car insurance there, and, thanks to interstate cooperation agreements, Massachusetts was all too happy to suspend Mr. Graham’s license here.
(Memo to Registrar Kaprielian - if a member of your family were driving, unbeknownst to him or her, with a license suspended for the same trite reason, would you want him or her thrown in the clink?)
In any event, Graham has already appeared in court and will seek a jury trial on the charges that he was driving with a suspended license. He says he’ll call the registrar as a witness. I hope he does.
The entire affair is almost surreal, and we all know that incidents like these are repeated every day of the week in Massachusetts. I mean, forget Bernie Madoff sipping Chablis in his swank, Manhattan penthouse after bilking enough cash from unsuspecting souls to fill a U-Haul truck. Apparently the real menaces to society are souls like Michael Graham, whose license was suspended because another state is gravely concerned about a pocket full of cash he may owe the auto insurance syndicate.
"We see this all the time," said Chris Ott, communications manager for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] of Massachusetts. "We see people getting arrested and hauled off to jail for non-criminal offenses. People are getting arrested all the time for all that drama for something that is legally in the same category as a parking ticket. So yes, if all he [Graham] did was not pay his insurance in Virginia that doesn’t sound like he’s a danger to anyone, and so this does sound unusual."
But the roadblocks to change will be hard to navigate. After all, any politician who takes on police powers will not only incur the wrath of the potent and well-funded public safety unions but a fair share of voters as well. Conservatives are pro-police by nature and liberals are increasingly afraid to be labeled as weak on crime, which leads to a blind eye or two being turned in the direction of a few civil liberties being tossed here and maybe a few others being tossed over there.
Let’s be blunt; the pervasive attitude in this state is that police officers are free to do basically what they please, and this attitude can be proven by visual observation on any day of the week.
But be careful before you whip out your cell phone and videotape what you see going wrong. On Sept. 27, 2008, Mark Hynes of Charlestown was not enjoying his own experience with the Boston Police and was then arrested for videotaping the local cops without their permission. There is apparently a law prohibiting videotaping without the permission of both parties; a law that should be canned so that taxpayers can absolutely videotape police actions, thus insuring proper conduct. I’d even give tax incentives for the action.
And though the scales of justice weigh heavily in favor of the blue wall, there’s one member of the state legislature fighting for the change we need.
The governor’s deputy press secretary Kimberly Haberlin declined any comment on this subject. But the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Safety, Michael A. Costello (D-Newburyport), has been speaking out and providing a needed leadership role. Costello said arresting citizens for an offense like Graham’s is not jurisprudent and should be corrected in the so-called CORI [Criminal Offender Record Information] reform legislation filed by the governor on January 11.
"Unless there’s a suspension for an egregious behavior such as operating under the influence it [driving with a suspended license] should not be an arrestable offense," said Costello, a former assistant district attorney in Essex County and now a practicing defense attorney. "It’s mind-boggling to think that an otherwise law-abiding citizen can be pulled out of their car, be arrested and jailed; to find out it’s a technicality or an out-of-state insurance issue. But that’s what happens. At a minimum we should look at whether or not that should be an arrestable offense."
Governor Patrick should jump on board and support Chairman Costello’s efforts to utilize the CORI bill as a vehicle for police reforms which will enhance the rights of citizens and put the brakes on police being able to arrest citizens for offenses which simply do not rise to the level of an incarceration event.
Kevin John Sowrdya is a political columnist who writes for South End News and Bay Windows, as well as other publications. He can be reached at kevinsow@aol.com.
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Thursday Feb 26, 2009
First in a new series regarding police culture in the Commonwealth.
So where’s the outrage? In a state which prides itself as the "Athens of America," not just for cultural reasons but because we claim to cherish civil liberties, barely an eyelid is raised when the cops toss a prominent talk show host in jail because a computer screen in a police cruiser says the subject didn’t pay a lousy car insurance bill in a southern state from which he moved years ago. How can this lackadaisical attitude toward police excess be so prevalent in the Massachusetts birthed by Sam Adams and governed by a Democratic majority which tells us that the eight years of George Bush and the Patriot Act are dead and buried and constitutional rights are back in fashion?
But I guess I missed the fashion show. Police powers in Massachusetts are completely out of control and each of us has our own, particular horror story to tell about an outrageous cop who seems poised to go postal or whose grasp of the truth is lose at best. And this dilemma is particularly acute given my observation that our elected officials fear the unions representing the constabulary forces more than they respect the voters. Thus, even if conservative gabber Michael Graham is not your cup of tea, you should not find it appetizing that a police officer can throw him or you in jail because the Intel Chips running the registry of motor vehicles in another jurisdiction revoke your driver’s license for a reason of minutia.
To be blunt, I’m not exactly a Michael Graham fan myself. It’s in this very column that I once took the local talk master to the wood shed for his lame attempt at an interview with Congressman Barney Frank. But that’s not the point. Deciding what kind of a state we want to live in, both as progressives and conservatives, is the issue in need of a healthy and open debate; and Graham, or for that matter any citizen of this Commonwealth, being handcuffed and thrown into jail for a simplistic, bureaucratic issue is a situation worthy of debate and due consideration.
Graham was more whimsical than contrite when he recently told his audience that he managed to make his 9:00 a.m. gab shift on WTKK FM only after having suffered undue humiliation in Framingham, where police detained him for what they allege was a minor moving violation. After the perfunctory plate and registration check at the scene, officials told Graham his license had been suspended and that they would have to handcuff and jail him.
An ad hominem of hieroglyphics from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, issued to the press in the aftermath of this ludicrous police action, can best be deciphered to mean that the Confederacy rises again. Virginia apparently declares that Graham didn’t pay his car insurance there, and, thanks to interstate cooperation agreements, Massachusetts was all too happy to suspend Mr. Graham’s license here.
(Memo to Registrar Kaprielian - if a member of your family were driving, unbeknownst to him or her, with a license suspended for the same trite reason, would you want him or her thrown in the clink?)
In any event, Graham has already appeared in court and will seek a jury trial on the charges that he was driving with a suspended license. He says he’ll call the registrar as a witness. I hope he does.
The entire affair is almost surreal, and we all know that incidents like these are repeated every day of the week in Massachusetts. I mean, forget Bernie Madoff sipping Chablis in his swank, Manhattan penthouse after bilking enough cash from unsuspecting souls to fill a U-Haul truck. Apparently the real menaces to society are souls like Michael Graham, whose license was suspended because another state is gravely concerned about a pocket full of cash he may owe the auto insurance syndicate.
"We see this all the time," said Chris Ott, communications manager for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] of Massachusetts. "We see people getting arrested and hauled off to jail for non-criminal offenses. People are getting arrested all the time for all that drama for something that is legally in the same category as a parking ticket. So yes, if all he [Graham] did was not pay his insurance in Virginia that doesn’t sound like he’s a danger to anyone, and so this does sound unusual."
But the roadblocks to change will be hard to navigate. After all, any politician who takes on police powers will not only incur the wrath of the potent and well-funded public safety unions but a fair share of voters as well. Conservatives are pro-police by nature and liberals are increasingly afraid to be labeled as weak on crime, which leads to a blind eye or two being turned in the direction of a few civil liberties being tossed here and maybe a few others being tossed over there.
Let’s be blunt; the pervasive attitude in this state is that police officers are free to do basically what they please, and this attitude can be proven by visual observation on any day of the week.
But be careful before you whip out your cell phone and videotape what you see going wrong. On Sept. 27, 2008, Mark Hynes of Charlestown was not enjoying his own experience with the Boston Police and was then arrested for videotaping the local cops without their permission. There is apparently a law prohibiting videotaping without the permission of both parties; a law that should be canned so that taxpayers can absolutely videotape police actions, thus insuring proper conduct. I’d even give tax incentives for the action.
And though the scales of justice weigh heavily in favor of the blue wall, there’s one member of the state legislature fighting for the change we need.
The governor’s deputy press secretary Kimberly Haberlin declined any comment on this subject. But the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Safety, Michael A. Costello (D-Newburyport), has been speaking out and providing a needed leadership role. Costello said arresting citizens for an offense like Graham’s is not jurisprudent and should be corrected in the so-called CORI [Criminal Offender Record Information] reform legislation filed by the governor on January 11.
"Unless there’s a suspension for an egregious behavior such as operating under the influence it [driving with a suspended license] should not be an arrestable offense," said Costello, a former assistant district attorney in Essex County and now a practicing defense attorney. "It’s mind-boggling to think that an otherwise law-abiding citizen can be pulled out of their car, be arrested and jailed; to find out it’s a technicality or an out-of-state insurance issue. But that’s what happens. At a minimum we should look at whether or not that should be an arrestable offense."
Governor Patrick should jump on board and support Chairman Costello’s efforts to utilize the CORI bill as a vehicle for police reforms which will enhance the rights of citizens and put the brakes on police being able to arrest citizens for offenses which simply do not rise to the level of an incarceration event.
Kevin John Sowrdya is a political columnist who writes for South End News and Bay Windows, as well as other publications. He can be reached at kevinsow@aol.com.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Gitell gets PR job with new Speaker DeLeo
If you can be known by the professionals who you surround yourself with, new Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D) of Winthrop may be favorably known as he pulls together a new team of seasoned political veterans to help him quarterback leadership of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Having won an easy victory over his opponent, House Majority Leader Rogers, DeLeo is reaching out for some cream of the crop appointments, and has succeeded in recruiting a few former public servants who've been living the good life in the private sector.
Former Boston Phoenix Columnist and Tom Menino Spokesman Seth Gitell will assume the post of PR man for the newly elected speaker.
Deleo served as House Ways and Means Chairman under departed Speaker Sal Dimasi and is known for his reserved and cautious leadership style. DeLeo has promised a transparent leadership style and has recently made a term limits proposal for the office of the House speaker. Gitell, hardly rash or rumbunctions, will make a good fit as DeLeo's communications lieutenant at the state house.
Gitell was highly respected by the press corp while serving as Boston Mayor Tom Menino's communications director, and appreciates the needs of his old colleagues in the press corp. having been on that side of the aisle as the well known scribe for the Phoenix. As a Boston writer, Gitell was highly respected for his probing and careful analysis of city and state politics. Gitell is also an attorney and since leaving Menino's staff has published a well read and noteworthy blog.
Having won an easy victory over his opponent, House Majority Leader Rogers, DeLeo is reaching out for some cream of the crop appointments, and has succeeded in recruiting a few former public servants who've been living the good life in the private sector.
Former Boston Phoenix Columnist and Tom Menino Spokesman Seth Gitell will assume the post of PR man for the newly elected speaker.
Deleo served as House Ways and Means Chairman under departed Speaker Sal Dimasi and is known for his reserved and cautious leadership style. DeLeo has promised a transparent leadership style and has recently made a term limits proposal for the office of the House speaker. Gitell, hardly rash or rumbunctions, will make a good fit as DeLeo's communications lieutenant at the state house.
Gitell was highly respected by the press corp while serving as Boston Mayor Tom Menino's communications director, and appreciates the needs of his old colleagues in the press corp. having been on that side of the aisle as the well known scribe for the Phoenix. As a Boston writer, Gitell was highly respected for his probing and careful analysis of city and state politics. Gitell is also an attorney and since leaving Menino's staff has published a well read and noteworthy blog.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Boston mayoral contest '09
Flaherty has his work cut out for him
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Thursday Jan 29, 2009
The race for mayor of Boston may not be a "show me the money" contest as much as it will be a "show me some new ideas" race. In that vein, Councilor Michael Flaherty’s novel, YouTube baptism as a contender for the city’s highest office is best taken seriously by the incumbent potentially seeking an unprecedented fifth term at a time when recession beleaguered voters have few reasons to embrace the status quo.
But first, a reality check for the at-large City Councilor, who has enjoyed broad support in the South End, which can be attributed to his progressive stance on key social issues. Menino will hardly go down in history like that Marlin Brando "could-ah been a contendah" film character. Menino has been the de jure contender for many years, beating a crowded field of articulate political pros in a special election in 1993, garnering more than 60 percent of the vote. He’s kept a bullet train pace since then, building a massive, urban political machine envied by other state politicos. To be perfectly blunt, Menino’s the George Patton of Massachusetts politics: brash, highly aggressive, savvy and armed with a legion of loyalists and an intimidating war chest of $1.4 million; in comparison, Flaherty has only $590,000 at his disposal.
"Flaherty’s an articulate candidate, but in a business where money can be the king maker Mayor Menino remains a formidable and respected incumbent," said Boston media consultant Jan Saragoni.
But this is not to say Councilor Flaherty need storm Pork Chop Hill to take the mayor’s office. What he may lack in political cash the young Flaherty compensates for with political cache, an unquestionably superior ability to communicate, and the physical appearance of youth and vitality which plays to the desire for change - presuming you subscribe to the theory of Menino Fatigue, as do I.
True, you can bet the job you might still have that the councilor from South Boston will not out raise His Honor anytime before November. Keeping pace with Menino’s money machine is a marathon no one’s going to win. This is business as usual, and should you doubt it just call former Menino opponents Maura Hennigan and Peggy Davis Mullen.
Hence, Menino Fatigue. Many in the city grow tired of a chief executive at times perceived as temperamental and thin-skinned and whose vision for the Hub seems limited to a nearsighted view of a posh, harbor side City Hall - an architectural plan now thankfully mothballed. And the potential fodder for a Menino challenger is actually quite fresh, coming from recent criticism in the news regarding the Mayor spending more than a cool million on political activities just as one member of his family is revealed for enjoying a special job arrangement with a major city developer.
Flaherty’s chances rest on the possibility that there’s a silent majority of Bostonians who are feeling intense pains in the pocketbook, which might trigger less than the normal level of tolerance for an incumbent issuing disjointed pronouncements and utilizing backroom political tactics from an already scandal-weary electorate.
But a coin flip reveals two factors that may make Menino his usual, formidable self. First, Flaherty, for all his oratorical skills, will have to overcome the political fact that Menino is a municipal version of Barack Obama, which is to say the mayor has consistently proven that he can raise huge sums of money to overwhelm any political opposition. And then there’s this: the mayor is a workaholic. I recall a conversation I once had with former mayoral communications director and South Ender Carol Brennan, who told me that no matter how early she rose for work, the mayor was already awake and 10 steps ahead of the rest of the staff. For Flaherty to outwork the mayor, he best prepare for 18-hour campaign days.
Those long campaign days will be consumed by a needed discussion on the economy, and on this front Flaherty has already outmaneuvered the Mayor by publicly opposing an increase in the city meals tax. While Menino is fighting for state approval to raise the meals tax by two percent, Flaherty has just come out swinging on the issue, arguing that making a night out on the town even more expensive in this economy is hardly a prodigious move. Flaherty’s right on this issue, and proves that he’s more in touch with the hurting local business owners who are already facing empty tables at Boston eateries.
So the race is on. The incumbent who’s everywhere, hardly articulate but hardly unapproachable, versus the renegade councilor who hails from a different generation with better prose but an inferior political machine to propel his candidacy. Sure, the odds-on favorite is the same mayor we’ve had for nearly 15 years. And yes, the era we have chronicled in Boston for so long is one where entrenched incumbents reign without question and are challenged only at the peril of the challengers.
But like many things in American politics of late, that glass ceiling may not be long for this world.
by Kevin John Sowyrda
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
Thursday Jan 29, 2009
The race for mayor of Boston may not be a "show me the money" contest as much as it will be a "show me some new ideas" race. In that vein, Councilor Michael Flaherty’s novel, YouTube baptism as a contender for the city’s highest office is best taken seriously by the incumbent potentially seeking an unprecedented fifth term at a time when recession beleaguered voters have few reasons to embrace the status quo.
But first, a reality check for the at-large City Councilor, who has enjoyed broad support in the South End, which can be attributed to his progressive stance on key social issues. Menino will hardly go down in history like that Marlin Brando "could-ah been a contendah" film character. Menino has been the de jure contender for many years, beating a crowded field of articulate political pros in a special election in 1993, garnering more than 60 percent of the vote. He’s kept a bullet train pace since then, building a massive, urban political machine envied by other state politicos. To be perfectly blunt, Menino’s the George Patton of Massachusetts politics: brash, highly aggressive, savvy and armed with a legion of loyalists and an intimidating war chest of $1.4 million; in comparison, Flaherty has only $590,000 at his disposal.
"Flaherty’s an articulate candidate, but in a business where money can be the king maker Mayor Menino remains a formidable and respected incumbent," said Boston media consultant Jan Saragoni.
But this is not to say Councilor Flaherty need storm Pork Chop Hill to take the mayor’s office. What he may lack in political cash the young Flaherty compensates for with political cache, an unquestionably superior ability to communicate, and the physical appearance of youth and vitality which plays to the desire for change - presuming you subscribe to the theory of Menino Fatigue, as do I.
True, you can bet the job you might still have that the councilor from South Boston will not out raise His Honor anytime before November. Keeping pace with Menino’s money machine is a marathon no one’s going to win. This is business as usual, and should you doubt it just call former Menino opponents Maura Hennigan and Peggy Davis Mullen.
Hence, Menino Fatigue. Many in the city grow tired of a chief executive at times perceived as temperamental and thin-skinned and whose vision for the Hub seems limited to a nearsighted view of a posh, harbor side City Hall - an architectural plan now thankfully mothballed. And the potential fodder for a Menino challenger is actually quite fresh, coming from recent criticism in the news regarding the Mayor spending more than a cool million on political activities just as one member of his family is revealed for enjoying a special job arrangement with a major city developer.
Flaherty’s chances rest on the possibility that there’s a silent majority of Bostonians who are feeling intense pains in the pocketbook, which might trigger less than the normal level of tolerance for an incumbent issuing disjointed pronouncements and utilizing backroom political tactics from an already scandal-weary electorate.
But a coin flip reveals two factors that may make Menino his usual, formidable self. First, Flaherty, for all his oratorical skills, will have to overcome the political fact that Menino is a municipal version of Barack Obama, which is to say the mayor has consistently proven that he can raise huge sums of money to overwhelm any political opposition. And then there’s this: the mayor is a workaholic. I recall a conversation I once had with former mayoral communications director and South Ender Carol Brennan, who told me that no matter how early she rose for work, the mayor was already awake and 10 steps ahead of the rest of the staff. For Flaherty to outwork the mayor, he best prepare for 18-hour campaign days.
Those long campaign days will be consumed by a needed discussion on the economy, and on this front Flaherty has already outmaneuvered the Mayor by publicly opposing an increase in the city meals tax. While Menino is fighting for state approval to raise the meals tax by two percent, Flaherty has just come out swinging on the issue, arguing that making a night out on the town even more expensive in this economy is hardly a prodigious move. Flaherty’s right on this issue, and proves that he’s more in touch with the hurting local business owners who are already facing empty tables at Boston eateries.
So the race is on. The incumbent who’s everywhere, hardly articulate but hardly unapproachable, versus the renegade councilor who hails from a different generation with better prose but an inferior political machine to propel his candidacy. Sure, the odds-on favorite is the same mayor we’ve had for nearly 15 years. And yes, the era we have chronicled in Boston for so long is one where entrenched incumbents reign without question and are challenged only at the peril of the challengers.
But like many things in American politics of late, that glass ceiling may not be long for this world.
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