Thursday, December 30, 2010

Massachusetts Gov. Patrick replaces Veterans' Services Secretary Thomas G. Kelley, Medal of Honor recipient with a hack campaign supporter


Politics as usual....Gov. Patrick shows that he isn't interested in having the best person in a cabinet position. Rather, he shows patronage is alive and well in Massachusetts.

Patrick ousted Veterans' Services Secretary Thomas G. Kelley, a Medal of Honor Recipient and seen as one of the most effective Veterans advocates in the country. So what prompted his ouster? They told Kelley that both the governor and lieutenant governor “want to move the agency in a different direction.”

Now there is a BULL-SHITE answer if there ever was one...Gov. Doofus appointed a parole board that let a career criminal out who killed a cop on the holidays and now he & his hack buddies throw a Medal of Honor Winner under the bus....This is what people voted for - A HACK Governor and a tool of the Unions....pathetic


VFW criticizes Patrick's ouster of veterans' secretary
by Martin Finucane December 29, 2010 04:19 PM
Globe Staff

The state Veterans of Foreign Wars organization criticized Governor Deval Patrick today for asking for the resignation of Veterans' Services Secretary Thomas G. Kelley, a Vietnam War hero and Congressional Medal of Honor winner who has served four governors.

The governor's actions in the "unceremonious dismissal" of Kelley "leave a very bad taste in our mouths," the VFW said in a statement. "The Governor owes Secretary Kelley an apology; he owes every recipient of the Medal of Honor an apology."

Patrick on Tuesday called Kelley a "true American hero" and thanked him for his "extensive and selfless service." Kelley told the Globe that he had been notified by Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby that the governor and lieutenant governor wanted to move in a new direction. I'm not part of that new direction," he said.

Kelley, 71, was named commissioner of veterans' services in 1999 and became secretary in August 2003. He served under Republican governors Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, and Mitt Romney. But his future with the Democratic Patrick administration appeared uncertain when he was excluded from Cabinet meetings, the Globe reports today.

The VFW statement said that Kelley and his staff had made the state "the leader in benefits and entitlements for service members and their families." The organization said that it also looked forward to working with Coleman Nee, the department undersecretary who will replace Kelley in the interim

Undersecretary Coleman Nee, who will replace Kelley previously worked as a director of a public relations firm and has been active in Democratic Party politics, specifically Govenor Patrick's relection campaign.

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