Pimp My Governor
By AmandaBCarpenter Posted in Archived — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
In nine short weeks newly elected Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D.) has upgraded his government car to a slick caddy and blew $27,000 on new drapes at the taxpayers expense.
"Oh, we screwed up," he said. He offered to put down $543 on his ride's lease as a contribution towards the $1,166 monthly bill.
Patrick could also face an ethics investigation, unrelated to these spending abuses, that stems from February 20 phone calls he made to Citigroup officials to recommend a "controversial" lending firm he was a board member at.
Patrick was appointed by President Clinton to become Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in 1994.
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Pimp My Governor 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
which is hard for me to do since I have to live with him, but the $543 Deval is paying for the Caddy is the difference between his lease and Romney's lease for his Crown Vic. Also, he did bow to the pressure over his new digs and decide to reimburse the state.
More disturbing, I think, is that he hired and is paying Amy Gorin, co-chair for his campaign's fundraising comittee, $72,000 a year to be his wife's personal secretary. Apparently the secretary Mrs. Patrick already has at the law firm for which she works isn't up to the task.
Also embarrasing, Gorin starred in a web testimonial on Deval's website during the campaign without disclosing in said testimonial that she also worked for the campaign. It caused them a little bit of a headache (though not nearly painful enough, in my opinion).
Additionally, even though the independantly wealthy Deval rode to office by convincing people of our dire economic straits, both he and Lt. Gov. Murray have decided to draw salaries for their service to the state, something Romney never did.
Sources:
http://www.devalpatrickwatch.com/archives/2007/02/72g_for_devals.php
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=184036&form...
http://www.devalpatrickwatch.com/archives/2007/02/patrick_will_pa.php
Caddy and decorating expenses was that he was caught. Next time he'll hide it better.
Deval is the Bay State's answer to Sharpe James - former mayor of Newark NJ and full time crook / incompetent public official.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
that Deval would have had no problem sticking us taxpayers with the bill if he could have, but i think that if we are going to have an honest discussion about how miserable a failure he is already as governor we should be 100% honest about the current state of affairs.
He can always count on the compliant Boston media to bail him out.
As in today, when both dailies plastered a very well-timed story on their front pages: Deval's wife is depressed.
Well, we're all depressed here in the People's Republic.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=187727
Both states had Republican governors before the 2006 November elections. And both states had economies that were doing very well. And, both have state executives that received high marks for how they managed their states' affairs.
So, what did the voters of these states do? They elected Democrats, partly to send a message to President Bush and partly because...well, they instinctively wanted a Democrat in the state house.
In a WSJ article which I now can't find on Google, Governor Ehrlich was interviewed shortly after his defeat. He read several letters from constituents, which said that they thought he was a good governor, and they were sorry they couldn't vote for a Republican this time. Ehrlich looked up and asked the reporter, what do you do with letters like that?
People of Maryland and Massachusetts--in a democracy, you live with the consequences of your choices.
Y'all Bay Staters picked Deval Patrick. I suspect that most Mass. voters had a pretty decent sense of what kind of guy Patrick was. But, because they wanted a Democrat, they voted him in anyway.
OK. You wanted him; now you got him. Prepare to pay more taxes. I'm sure your new Chief Executive has many more rooms to redecorate.
"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)