Gov. Deval Patrick - Obama's BFF and "Mini Me" - A pair of Failed POLS

Benghazi will be remembered as when good men died due to an ineffective and failed President who lied his way into the highest office in the land.  People who voted for him who were more interested in electing the "cool" factor than a good leader.  Ugh.

What could be possibly worse than more of Obama, a feckless politician who has been proven to be a liar, fraud and failed charlatan??

How about his BEST FRIEND FOREVER ( BFF ) Governor Deval Patrick - another failed lefty looney liberal moonbat who has proven to be, as my Dad would say, as
" shallow as piss on a flat rock ".  He has made Massachusetts a laughing stock as we are recognized as having one of the more corrupt state governments in the land.  An Afghan writer said that MASSACHUSETTS politics was more corrupt than KABUL and he made some pretty good points.

Giving licenses to illegal immigrants ?  More EBT cards with cash benefits that can be spent at casinos, cruise ships and tattoo parlors?  More patronage jobs and lifetime EVERYTHING for lazy state workers who don't even know what the meaning of real work is???  A public transit system ( MBTA ) that is a sinkhole for $$$ ???? 

IF you like all these things, than DEVAL is your man -

A empty suit cut from the same unethical and morally bankrupt cloth as his buddy Obama.

What a pair of clowns and worse yet are those who voted for these two putzes.

Howie Carr gives us a write up that needs to be remembered as Deval wants to follow his best buddy's path to national politics - Heavens protect us, please.

We need more of these two failed fools like we all need kick in the b*lls.

Gusts of hot air forecast for gov

By Howie Carr
Sunday, October 28, 2012 -  Boston Herald

Boston Herald Columnist

Thanks to Sandy, we’ll be seeing a lot of Gov. Deval Patrick over the next few days, live from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency bunker in Framingham, all 67 inches of him.

He’ll be wearing that boss leather jacket, talking tough to the utilities like he did the other day. Some reporter asked him if the utilities will be ready for Frankenstorm, and he replied in that squeaky little voice of his, “They’d better be.”

Ooooooh, I’ll bet they were petrified. If they don’t keep the lights on next week, the utilities can count on a scorching ... invitation to his next fundraiser.

 

Deval’s governorship is winding down, like T.S. Eliot’s world, not with a bang but a whimper. Deval’s favorite Roman emperor? Nero, because he, too, fiddled while Rome burned.

Beyond this pending temporary return to the limelight, Deval has become Dukakis Redux. His governorship consists of little more than rounding up the usual suspects. Almost daily he is shocked to learn that there is gambling going on in the casino.

His cops raid the compounding pharmacy in Framingham ... after 23 people are dead. He sets up a “war room” to deal with the Annie Dookhan scandal at the forensic laboratory — surrender room would be more like it, as they cut loose drug dealer after drug dealer. And Deval claims it’s only going to cost the state $50 million?

What happens when the freed drug dealers start shooting civilians, or providing them with hot shots? How about all those second-generation lawsuits? Then there’s his new MBTA boss, who fled Atlanta leaving Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority in shambles, with out-of-control absenteeism and pension costs and an unsustainable economic model. Sound familiar?

“She is exactly what we need,” Deval said with a straight face.

Deval has long served as Mini-Me to Obama’s Dr. Evil. So how come he’s not a campaign surrogate anymore? During the last presidential debate in Boca, Deval spent the evening in Ashland, trying to save a moonbat rep who votes with the speaker 99.4 percent of the time. (His one vote against the speaker was to oppose any EBT reform — no wonder Deval loves the guy.)

Now Sandy’s rolling north, just in time for the first anniversary of the freak Halloween storm. We all remember what happened back then — Lt. Gov. Tim Murray achieved liftoff at 108 mph in his state-issued Crown Vic. And Deval is still stonewalling on release of embattled Murray’s cellphone records.

And next year, will Murray be a witness at any possible trials of his dear friend, Mike McLaughlin, the $360,000-a-year Chelsea Housing Authority director?

Deval can forget the U.S. Supreme Court. That sketchy background of his will kill him. Remember Ameriquest? He can likewise forget about anything that requires Senate confirmation. As Bill Weld found out, it only takes one senator to deep-six your nomination.

And anyway, does Deval want any of that stuff? Ambassadorships are for the likes of Ray Flynn and Brian Donnelly. Secretary of, say, transportation? That’s for the Andy Cards of the world.

Pre-governorship, Deval had a pretty good racket going. He learned it from his mentor, Jesse Jackson. King had a dream, Jesse had a scheme. Jesse called his Operation Push. Deval’s was Operation Grab.

Deval would go to some corporation that needed some racial cover — “steam control,” as Tom Wolfe put it. After a few months, Deval would get all huffy and then walk away with a few million and a non-disclosure agreement. Wash, rinse, repeat. It worked with Coke, it worked with Texaco, but by 2005 Deval had worn out the grift.

What’s next? One thing we know it won’t be — another $1.35 million advance for a “book” that sells 6,000 copies.

Kabul Press calls Massachusetts more corrupt than Afghanistan

My wife and I were discussing the issue of the "Government Critters" on both sides of the world, and that there really is no real difference as the Government at home and the Government here are inhabited by the same level of ineffective and overpaid staff. They aren't very effective and are highly overpaid for the work that they do. It doesn't matter if you are in Afghanistan or the USA, these fools have taken over the Government that is supposed to work for us. Instead they have made it all about themselves.

Here's a point-of-view from the AFGHN side where the local press in Kabul describes how they see the State of Massachusetts as corrupt (if not more so)than those in Afghanistan.

With DEVAL PATRICK in charge in the State of Massachusetts, I can kinda see this guy's point. Governor Patrick is the best buddy with the President, who is the epitome of ineffective, bloated, overpaid Government. They are a pair of inept frauds who scammed their way into elective office. We would be much better off with both of them out of office and going back to some other line of work.

Massachusetts Corruption Dwarfs Afghan Corruption

International corruption statistics are distorted to protect Western nations and China - Saturday 18 August 2012, by Matthew J. Nasuti - Kabul Press http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article120954

Government corruption in the United States is hundreds of times more pervasive and costly than in Afghanistan. Every day American newspapers recount the scandals. One day it involves U.S. Customs officials, the next day it is the Secret Service, then the General Services Administration, then the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Every month there are new scandals involving foreign aid and other funds administered by the U.S. Department of State, the latest involved the waste of billions of dollars in “global warming” funds squandered by Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones and her predecessor, Claudia A. McMurray. Despite the State Department being perhaps worst administered agency in the Federal Government, no one dares utter even a whisper of criticism at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, so the corruption continues.

While billions of dollars in domestic spending and foreign aid are misappropriated, corruptly awarded and mismanaged each year, that corruption is easier to conceal, because the U.S. is a wealthy country with many distractions. Despite the publicity, few members of the public seem able to grasp the size and scope of the cancer of corruption and nepotism that is eating away at the country.

Internationally, government corruption is ranked under a flawed system established by such groups as “Transparency International.” They rank corruption in countries like Afghanistan and the United States based on subjective “perceptions” of corruption. Because the rankings are not based on the actual volume of corruption, this system unfairly maligns developing countries. If the system were based on the dollar amount of corruption, it would list many Western, Arab and Far East nations as the most corrupt.

Supposedly non-profit groups such as Transparency International are anything but transparent. Its co-founder, Michael Hershman, is a former official with USAID and he is also the chairman of the Fairfax Group. Fairfax makes it profits from the corruption that Transparency International “discovers.” Fairfax holds itself out as an expert consultant on foreign government corruption and as a result it has been awarded numerous U.S. government anti-corruption contracts. Transparency International’s U.S. Board of Directors and Advisory Council is filled with former government officials, lawyers for major Washington, D.C. law firms, government consultants and other representatives of organizations affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. Many of these people make money from or advance their careers by pointing the corruption finger overseas, rather than where it belongs, which is at the Federal, State and local governments in the United States.

In the United States, the systemic government corruption is not limited to the loss of public funds and cronyism, but extends to a wide range of dishonest and illegal practices which shield those with political connections. American is literally a land of two peoples; those to whom the law applies and those who are above the law. The problem is too large for a single article to examine, so just one of America’s 50 states (Massachusetts) was chosen for this article and even for that state, there is only space to summarize a tiny percentage of its public corruption.

Timothy Murray Scandal: The current state government in Massachusetts is called the Patrick/Murray Administration after Governor Duval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray. On November 2, 2011, at 5:26 a.m. Murray was driving his State-owned Crown Victoria automobile in Sterling, Massachusetts, when he crashed the vehicle, completely destroying it. Murray told the police that he was driving at the legal speed limit of 55 miles per hour and lost control of the vehicle. He claimed to be on official business inspecting (in the dark) storm damage in the area. The police determined that he was driving at 108 miles per hour and fell asleep at the wheel. Every statement made to police by Murray was false. Despite that and Murray’s lack of remorse, local prosecutors refused to prosecute him for his false statements or for reckless endangerment. As a reward, Governor Patrick gave Murray a new $40,000.00 State automobile to replace the one he destroyed. Murray had previously been cited in 1992 and 2006 for speeding. Attempts by the Boston Herald to further investigate this scandal have been blocked by lawyers in the Governor’s Office, including E. Abim Thomas, who claims that the records are exempt from public release. ,br />
Chelsea Housing Authority Scandal: Massachusetts has 242 public housing authorities and some of the top jobs within these agencies have historically been patronage appointments, a system prone to abuse. For most of the past year, the Chelsea (Boston) Housing has been rocked by sandals. On June 15th of this year investigators questioned Lieutenant Governor Murray about allegations that Chelsea officials were illegally fundraising for him. Murray has refused to brief the people of Massachusetts regarding any of these allegations. Since then there have been no public updates. The concern is that this criminal investigation, like so many others, has been quietly dropped.

MBTA Scandal: On August 6, 2012, the Boston Globe reported that there were only two bidders on a $1 billion State MBTA transportation contract. Initially, 25 companies expressed an interest in bidding but except for the favored contractors (Mass Bay) and a little known French company, all the rest of the bidders ultimately declined to bid. The reason that 23 companies withdrew from the process is that there is a wide-spread belief that State officials had rigged the bidding in favor of Mass Bay. Governor Patrick has done nothing to dispel this apparently accurate assessment. Due to the lack of competition and in order to try and restore public confidence, Governor Patrick should withdraw bidding authority from MBTA General Manager Jonathan R. Davis, assign the bid evaluation to an independent panel and order that panel to rebid the work. This of course will never happen because the Governor seems quite content with the present corruption.

Deerfield River Levee Scandal: In the Fall of 2011, a group of wealthy agri-businesses in Deerfield, Massachusetts created several kilometers of sand levees along the Deerfield River in an attempt to prevent future flooding of their low-lying farm fields. The 10-15 foot levees, in some places push into tree-lines and right up to the river’s edge. The legal issue is that State law prohibits any construction work within 200 feet of a river without a permit, which the farmers failed to apply for. The Massachusetts River Protection Act is very clear and it mandates that the levees be removed. According to informed sources, inspectors for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommended in 2011 that enforcement action be commenced against the violators. A letter was sent on December 15, 2011 to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley from Cynthia M. Pepyne of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office requesting a State review of these potential environmental violations. To-date however nothing has happened. The reason is that the agri-businesses involved have close political ties to the Patrick-Murray Administration and party loyalty matters more to these State officials than the environment or the law. It is not clear who within Ms. Coakley’s office or the DEP quashed the enforcement action. The case is presently sitting on the desk of Brian Harrington, Assistant Administrator for DEP’s Western Region. It has been sidelined with the support of DEP attorney Kathleen Delaplain, but the real decision authorities may have been DEP Director Kenneth L. Kimmell and Western Regional Administrator Michael Gorski. In contacts with these officials, they claim that the enforcement action is still under “active consideration” but it is impossible to obtain the truth from any of these individuals.

Department of Revenue Scandal: An investigation in early 2012 revealed that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue has a new tactic that it is using against the poor. It is called the “desk audit.” For wealthy and corporate taxpayers, the Department will conduct field audits in which revenue agents travel to the home or place of business of the wealthy to review the taxpayer’s records. However, for indigent taxpayers, the Department misuses a device called the desk audit and it orders the taxpayer to copy all of his or her records for one or multiple years and mail all of them to the desk auditor. If the taxpayer cannot afford to do this, the Department labels them as “refusing to comply with the law” and rejects all their deductions, imposing large penalties on them. If the indigent taxpayer tries to appeal this unjust assessment, he or she is hit with the one-two punch by the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB). The ATB has ignored rulings from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and decided that it will not waive filing fees for the poor. As a result of this misconduct, some indigent taxpayers are barred from appealing State abuses. Even if the indigent could somehow obtain the required filing fees, the ATB requires that all hearings be held in Boston, a long trip for the elderly and in some cases an impossible trip for the poor. The ATB refuses to travel around the State in order to hear cases locally, however, the ATB will travel the circuit for wealthy parties who are contesting property tax assessments. It will hold court for property tax cases for the rich in such upscale western towns as Northampton, but it will not accommodate the poor by holding income tax hearings in Springfield or Greenfield. One of these indigent taxpayer cases is currently being prosecuted by Department of Revenue attorney John DeLosa. Commissioner of Revenue Amy Pitter and ATB Chairman Thomas W. Hammond, Jr. apparently are quite comfortable with these abuses, as they have done nothing to correct them. USDA - Massachusetts Scandal: There is an investigation currently underway by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and the FBI into the corrupt awarding of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Bill funds in Massachusetts. The case has been briefed to top officials in Tom Vilsack’s office. Mr. Vilsack is the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States. The evidence is that USDA officials in Massachusetts have been awarding grants primarily to friends, family members and to a small group of wealthy farmers with close ties to the Patrick/Murray Administration. The grants are under two programs called the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP). The public has not heard about this case and it will not be hearing about this case for a while because, unfortunately, the U.S. Attorney’s investigation appears to be on hold until after the November election, so as not to embarrass President Obama. Corruption at the Federal, State and local levels within the United States varies from agency to agency, from State to State and from town to town. Overall, the sheer magnitude of abuses outstrips anything present in Afghanistan. The American metrics far outpace Afghanistan on the dollar number of funds misappropriated, number of instances of corruption and number of people and companies who are immune from and above the law. This is not to condone the level of corruption within Afghanistan, which is believed to be considerable and unacceptable. Hypocracy has always been a staple of international diplomacy and therefore Afghanistan will have to live with the condescending arrogance of American diplomats who see corruption everywhere but in their own back yard

As the flood approaches....

Those in the "lifeboat" care very little about those who are not...All is well for them, so why should they concern themselves with the troubles of others?

Like in Massachusetts where the number of state employees earning over $100,000 a year has jumped 40% since Governor Deval " Cadillac " Patrick has taken office, with approximately 7000 state employees reaching this level of annual compensation.

While BOSTON is home of World Class Sports Teams, it is also home to World Class HACKS/POLS/ GREEDY UNION TYPES

While the RED SOX and BRUINS show all that BOSTON is home of WORLD CLASS TEAMS, we have the other side of what happens in our state that shows we have some WORLD CLASS IDIOTS too....

THREE ARTICLES say it all when it comes to MASSACHUSETTS HACKS/POLS/GREEDY UNION TYPES - all three of these stories are reported on one day...

T UNION TREASURER steals $250K from fellow Union members to afford himself a very nice lifestyle...still has T job even though he has admitted he took the cash...This type of fool got his job because he knew somebody...turns out they trusted this greedy idiot and paid the price...

A WESTERN MASS HACK (aged 38) gets a PATRONAGE position from GOV. DEVAL " SPEND IT ALL" PATRICK that guarantees him $110K pay & benefits for life....likely up to 50 years as he is retiring at age 38....Deval Patrick supporter ya know.....

And just when you thought it couldn't get worse, GOV. DEVAL " SPEND-IT-ALL " PATRICK decides he doesn't care what voters think, he is giving 4000 State Managers a RAISE not caring that this will pull $10 MILLION dollars MORE out of the budget where the levels of funding for programs are at drastic levels already....


SO to sum up.... We have a Union Thief (Isn't that redunant?), Hackorama retiree robbing you for 50 years worth of $$$ for almost NO WORK and an Idiot Governor who hasn't got a clue - Did I miss anything???

Sad to say, no I didn't.

T union tells court ex-officer stole dues
Local 600 says its treasurer took $250,000
By Eric Moskowitz - BOSTON GLOBE
Globe Staff / June 10, 2011

The MBTA Inspectors Union says its former treasurer stole $250,000 from membership dues, withdrawing cash, writing checks to himself, and spending freely with a union credit card.

Officials at the union, known as Local 600, say they discovered the alleged theft only after Brian C. Sheehy ran unsuccessfully for the union presidency, then scrambled in vain to retain his old post and avoid turning over bank records to the new officers of Local 600.

The union’s allegations have come to light in US Bankruptcy Court, where Sheehy filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection one day before he was scheduled to be tried by a union tribunal seeking to recover the money.

The union has asked Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Bailey to prevent Sheehy from using Chapter 7 to avoid repaying Local 600. And the US trustee charged with administering the bankruptcy has asked the judge to dismiss Sheehy’s filing altogether, saying his $70,000 income from the MBTA is too much for him to qualify for Chapter 7 protection.

Sheehy, a 41-year-old Quincy resident, still works for the T as an inspector on the Red Line, because he has not been accused of stealing from the MBTA and because the matter is pending, said a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Sheehy then paid the union $93,000, apparently hoping the new officers would accept the sum and drop the matter, according to the filings.

When that failed, he filed for bankruptcy and made what Local 600 says were legal maneuvers to avoid repayment and shelter assets that include a vacation home in Dennisport that he shared with his wife, an executive at an investment firm.

The alleged theft has roiled Local 600, the union that represents the 320 inspectors and chief inspectors who work in the MBTA subway and bus system, managing stations, responding to emergencies, helping customers, and providing a uniformed presence.

Those inspectors contribute 1.5 percent of their pay for union dues, money that was supposed to fund organizing, labor negotiations, member defense in job disputes, and other expenses, but much of which is now missing. The union, run by a full-time president and volunteer board, lacked financial safeguards and other controls to discourage theft.

The Sheehys have apparently separated. Sheehy, who is due back in court June 28, told the court last month that he had moved from their four-bedroom home in Quincy to an apartment nearby.

Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com.


Who says $100 doesn’t buy what it used to?
By Howie Carr - BOSTON HERALD
Friday, June 10, 2011

This time it’s an anonymous back-bencher state rep, Chris Speranzo of Pittsfield. He’s been handed extremely early retirement as the next clerk magistrate of the Pittsfield District Court for approximately $110,000 a year.

Not bad for a 38-year-old hack who can now hold this no-heavy-lifting job for the rest of his layabout life. Did I mention he’s a Democrat?

Speranzo will be replacing a guy who’s been gone for two years, one Leo Evans. I’ll bet you didn’t even know Evans was gone. I’m also guessing you never heard of this Speranzo character until this moment. I wonder whether he voted for the very ethical Sal DiMasi for speaker in 2007.

In 2006, Speranzo donated a C-Note to Deval Patrick. Not a bad return on investment — $100 in return for, according to actuarial tables, more than $5 million over the next 50 years or so. And that doesn’t include the free health insurance, plus all the extra dough the clerk magistrate can collect from OKing bail for the local perps.

What’s hard to figure is just how little the kleptocracy cares about pretending to observe the niceties of those proverbial nationwide searches. The Dreaded Private Sector continues to wither, and yet one after another, these worthless unemployable Democrat coatholders are taken care of, one way or another.

Consider the last couple of months. The wife of the state rep from Hingham: a judgeship. The defeated Democrat candidate for sheriff of Bristol County: a $103,000-a-year job as a college hack. The 78-year-old retired senator from Bristol county: a $120,000-a-year sinecure at a different community college.

I called Mary-Ellen Manning, the Democrat governor’s councilor who in a few weeks will have a chance to vote on this Sal DiMasi acolyte.

“He is 38 years old — odds are he’ll be collecting a paycheck for 50 years,” she said. “A half century. This is supposed to be a justice-delivery system, not a jobs program for Deval’s contributors. It’s a closed shop. You only have a chance if you’re on the team. Something is really wrong out west.”

Speranzo did not return a call yesterday seeking a comment.


Deval Patrick raises eyebrows, ire
By Hillary Chabot - BOSTON HERALD
Friday, June 10, 2011 -

Lawmakers and unions slammed Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday for triggering a pay-raise bonanza to the tune of nearly $10 million with a 3 percent salary hike for as many as 4,000 state managers — even as Bay State residents face frozen salaries and unemployment.

“There are people in the private sector who haven’t seen a raise in years. Most people feel lucky if they have a job,” said outraged state Rep. James Miceli (D-Wilmington).

Jay Gonzalez, Patrick’s finance and administration secretary who released the news of the pay raise, argued that state managers haven’t gotten a raise since July 2007.

It’s do as they say, not as they do,” said Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge Police Patrolman’s Union. “It’s unfortunately the way (Patrick) does business. He does what he wants and he hurts all the hard-working people in this state.”

Shortly after the administration announced the raises yesterday, the state Senate hit back, unanimously approving an amendment that would force the governor to control his personnel costs and detail efforts to control spending on staffing.

“This perfectly illustrates the point as to why you have to have reporting on spending and accountability,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), who filed the amendment. “You can imagine our surprise — he’s issuing a broad-based pay increase when we’re in the middle of a conference committee and struggling with serious (budget) cuts.”

Senators are trying to close a $1.9 billion budget gap — made worse by a cutoff of federal stimulus funds. Students at the University of Massachusetts will be whacked with a 7.5 percent fee hike while cities and towns took a $65 million cut in state funding. The pay hike, set to go into effect on July 1, comes only months after Patrick ousted MassDevelopment director Robert Culver for considering pay hikes at the quasi-public authority.

To The Rescue.....

I wish we had a Governor that we could count on here in Massachusetts....instead the liberal idjits re-elected Deval " Spend-it-all" Patrick, OBAMA's buddy buddy.

Hopefully, the both of them will get sent packing in the near future....We need real leadership like Chris Christie or Gov. Walker of Wisconsin....Senator Scott Brown showed that Massachusetts still has some real leaders in our midst...we just have throw the Bums out and elect decent people who are there for the citizens, not the Unions and the Liberal Elite.

Massachusetts Governor plays politics with Veterans services office....turned it into a blatantly political operation to bolster his re-election....

This story should be no surprise to anyone who has observed the way that the liberal left has an absolute disdain for Veterans, especially the Democratic Party operatives. They have called us " War Mongers", " Baby Killers" and any other slur they can use to libel those who have worn the uniform and stood in defense of our country. This has been part of the Democratic DNA since the mid 60's when the party turned away from JFK's philosophy of a strong defense and went with the what the hippies and George McGovern spouted. Seems as they forgot that the only reason they were able to live free and spout off about the military was because Veterans paid for that right with their sacrifices and many times, with their lives.

Now, they have decided that the best way to use the Veterans is to take over the Veterans' services departments and turn it into another political machine to prop up the very people who show utter contempt for Veterans.

Case in point, Governor Deval " Spend-it-all" Patrick, who is Obama's best buddy fired the Massachusetts secretary of Veterans Services for four governors, Tom Kelly, Medal of Honor recipient and replaced him with his own political appointee.

Now, they are purging further into the staff and fired Tom Kelly's 2nd in charge while she was out on a medical leave. No reason for this change other than they can.

There will be a special place in Hell for these weasels when they have to answer for their sins. To take what is supposed to be a non-political program and use it as a prop to further your electability is beneath contempt. Deval Patrick and Obama never wore the uniform because they always saw service in the military as the kind of work that others had to do.....it was beneath them....But now when it is part of their political machine, they will be more than happy to try to "latch on" to the Veterans and tout how they have always admired them for their service.

Deval Patrick doesn't care for Veterans and neither does Obama. Veterans are political props for these two empty suits and the sooner we jettison these two fools back to where they came from, the better off we will be.


At Massachusetts Veterans Services, charges of playing politics
By Kevin Cullen
Globe Columnist / February 20, 2011

Maria Spiewakowski saw it coming.

“After Tom Kelley was fired,’’ she recalled, “I said, ‘I’m next.’ ’’

She was. Kelley, Massachusetts secretary of Veterans Services for four governors, was informed after Christmas that he was being replaced. The 71-year-old Kelley is a Medal of Honor recipient and his ousting was controversial, as much for the way it was handled as anything.

Spiewakowski worked in Veterans Services for 18 years, rising through the ranks to become Kelley’s No. 2. But when Coleman Nee was hired as undersecretary in 2007 on orders, Kelley says, from the governor’s office, she was suddenly No. 3.

Upset over the way Kelley was treated, and dealing with a medical problem of her own, Spiewakowski went on medical leave Jan. 18.

She got a Jan. 24 letter from Nee, Kelley’s replacement. “I know you’ve been away from work but I need to meet with you briefly to discuss my vision for Veterans Services,’’ Nee wrote.

Four days later there was another letter, saying she was fired.

“Incoming leadership has the authority to select its management team to carry out its policy goals,’’ Nee wrote. “This often necessitates the replacement of existing personnel. As a result, this action should not be construed in any way as a reflection on you personally or on your performance under prior leadership.’’

Spiewakowski’s removal was similar to Kelley’s. Kelley was asked by his boss, Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, to show up for a meeting to talk about the department’s future.

When Kelley got there, the only thing about the future that was discussed was his not being part of it.

Governor Deval Patrick had every right to replace Kelley, just as Coleman Nee has the authority to replace Spiewakowski. The problem for both the governor and his new veterans secretary is that the people being replaced are not going softly into the night.

Spiewakowski and Kelley are saying publicly what had been whispered: that Nee turned the department that oversees the welfare of the state’s 400,000 veterans into a blatantly political operation to burnish the images of Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray.

Spiewakowski says employees were asked to volunteer for campaign efforts, and that Nee and some workers busied themselves with efforts to reelect the governor on department time.

Nee denies each and every one of the allegations.

Asked about firing someone on medical leave, he said he “can’t talk about personnel issues.’’ As for why Spiewakowski was fired, he said, “We’ve had some restructuring, some positions consolidated.’’

Asked if there is an ongoing purge of anyone perceived as a Kelley loyalist, Nee said, “That’s nonsense. I haven’t given any litmus test.’’

Spiewakowski says Nee put a political gloss on things that had been previously apolitical. For example, she said the department’s newsletter became a vehicle to emphasize the Patrick administration’s commitment to veterans as much as a way to inform veterans about services.

Kelley agrees, saying, “The newsletter had not been used like that before.’’

Nee scoffs at this. He said complaints that the newsletter was politicized are really bruised feelings about his efforts to modernize the department.

“Everything down here was using an old dynamic,’’ he said.

Spiewakowski and Kelley say Nee intervened when a contract employee was about to be fired for poor performance. They declare that Nee said Murray and the governor’s office wanted the employee kept on.

“That’s an absolute lie,’’ Nee said.

But Spiewakowski and Kelley say that episode hurt morale and made it clear that some workers had inside pull with the administration and would be treated differently.

Kelley says that in June 2009, Nee told him his main priority was to get the Patrick-Murray team reelected and to get veterans behind the effort. Kelley was so disturbed that he immediately wrote a memo about it.

“I never said that,’’ Nee told me.

Spiewakowski and Kelley say one employee complained that Nee had approached him in the workplace and asked him about lining up veterans to support the governor’s reelection campaign.

Nee said he didn’t recall approaching employees. Asked if doing so would be an ethical violation, Nee said, “I think it would. But I don’t think I’d do that.’’

Spiewakowski said she was going public because the department’s morale has been destroyed.

“I can respect the governor and lieutenant governor making the decision to replace Tom,’’ she said. “I can’t accept that Coleman Nee is the person to replace Tom, because he has completely politicized the office and its work.’’

Spiewakowski is not alone. Several others who worked or still work for Veterans Services have filed complaints against Nee with the Ethics Commission and the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Nee’s first battle in his new job is against an insurgency within his own staff.

He acknowledged he has heard from ethics and finance investigators, looking for records. But he is confident he did nothing wrong. “Anybody can make a complaint to OCPF or Ethics,’’ he said.

I asked Nee why some people are trying to destroy him.

“I don’t know what the motivations are, and frankly I don’t want to speculate,’’ he said. “But it’s always anonymous. If they are veterans and saying this, then they are heroes, and they should have some guts and come out of the shadows and say it to me. Say it to my face.’’

If the department of Veterans Services wasn’t politicized before, it sure is now.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com

Massachusetts angling to deprive citizens of their 2012 Primary Vote ....more crappola from Obama's Buddy Deval "Spend-it-all" Patrick

The budget is now being used as justification for elimination of the 2012 Primaries??

This coming out of Massachusetts (with Obama's Buddy Governor "Spend-it-all Deval Patrick).....Funny how the OBOTS are backing the UNIONS but want to take away the citizens right to vote.

We have enough money to give the retiring Chief of Massport a $450K payment of Unused Sicktime and a $200K a year pension but we can't pay for the Presidential Primary??

This is how the DEMS show people that their vote doesn't count because they will gin up a "crisis" and use that as a reason to deprive people of their Constitutional Right to VOTE.....and people wonder why we didn't want to re-elect the fool that resides in our State House??


Not enough money for a 2012 primary?
A handful of states, including Massachusetts, are considering abolishing their presidential primaries — mainly because there's not enough money in the budget:
Politico Blog - Ben Smith

Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin says there’s not enough money to run a primary in March 2012, according to Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget for the next fiscal year.

“The number that was submitted by the governor despite the fact that he suggested, or his administration suggested, that it would be a 2 percent cut, in fact is a far more drastic cut. My budget will go down anyways for the coming fiscal year in the elections area because we have one fewer election in the upcoming fiscal year than we did in the last. But nevertheless, it’s a problem to run this March 6, 2012 event based upon the numbers they’ve submitted,” Galvin told WBZ.

The result of a state abolishing its presidential primary would likely be a state-party funded caucus system — but those state parties could also choose a different nomination method

Politics as usual in Massachusetts - Governor "Spend-it-all Deval" Patrick is packing his bags...for out of state travel....right after re-election

Massachusetts is home to POTUS' best buddy, Gov. Deval " Spend-it-all" Patrick (Governor bought himself a new Cadillac upon getting elected with TAXPAYERS funds, earning himself the nickname of "Cadillac Deval" ).....These old buddies who have very similar out look on things....They both pander to the Unions, both use issues of race when it suits them politically, feel that your tax money is theirs to squander on their political hack buddies and (wait for it...) like to write books about their favorite subject - THEMSELVES.

POTUS has TWO autobiographies.....Governor Doofus had to write one as he likely felt that he had to try to keep up....So what would a newly re-elected Governor do?? Work on education reform, pension reform? Making state government more responsive to the citizens?? Eliminate wasteful spending??? Noooooooo....he is planning on Globetrotting, pimping his book and doing anything BUT being the Governor that is needed for the state of Massachusetts......pissa.

Well I am NOT surprised as Political Birds-of-a-Feather flock together....and these two idjits are a pair of real Dodo Birds.....Hopefully to soon be politically extinct. Potus first in 2012 and Gov. Doofus in 2014.....

This must be for Deval's version of the " World Apology Tour" just like his buddy the President.

Heaven help us....please.


The taxi’s waitin’
By Brian McGrory
Globe Columnist / January 5, 2011

It was with great relief that I saw the headline on Boston.com yesterday that our excellent governor, Deval Patrick, said he would be getting out of the State House and traveling more in his second term.

Lawrence continues to teeter on the edge. New Bedford, Fall River, and Springfield have unemployment rates of 13 percent or higher. People from Pittsfield to Provincetown are fearful of rising taxes and jettisoned government services. And seeing the governor constantly in their communities, especially this soothing and thoughtful governor, will go a long way toward rallying the citizenry toward better things.

And then — gulp — I kept reading. Ends up, he’s not talking about traveling around the state. He’s talking about traveling out of state, even out of the country, on economic trade missions, presidential campaign trips, and to promote his upcoming book.

In retrospect — and with a nod to Peter, Paul and Mary — maybe Patrick should have made his campaign slogan: “All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go.’’

Even better, picture a rally with the state parole board singing, “There’s so many times I’ve let you down.’’ Then Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray offers: “Hold me like you’ll never let me go.’’

All together now: “I’m a leavin’ on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again. Oh babe, I hate to go.’’

This is degenerating into something far less than we hoped, this reelection, a slippage not born of the inexperience that Patrick had four years ago, but of a seeming arrogance that is profoundly misplaced. Some trusted adviser should call Patrick every morning with a reminder that more than half the electorate voted against him on Election Day.

Already, the governor has spent the bulk of November either on understandable vacations or holiday trips. Before and after, though, his public schedule has been noticeably absent of the kinds of public events that were a staple during his yearlong campaign.

And now, to casually say that you’re going to take to the skies — presumably at the expense of the streets — to help your state, something has gone wrong. Couple this with his refusal to release the names of the people and entities that are funding Thursday’s inaugural celebrations until after it’s over, and those sounds you’re hearing are alarms.

Patrick’s book, “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life,’’ is going to be no small source of friction (I said friction, not fiction) when it’s published in April. Broadway Books doesn’t pay $1.35 million for a memoir and not expect the author to do a full-out tour and media campaign.

You can already see it, the jobless rates still hovering in the 12 to 13 percent range in the industrial cities, the murder tally in Boston heading for another year over 70, and our governor live from New York with Meredith Vieira on the Today show or signing at a Barnes & Noble in Chicago. Remember us, the voters?

The governor’s advisers do what they often do when anyone dares question him. They act shocked that we can’t understand the critical work he performs by recruiting businesses that will save the Massachusetts economy.

The big problem is, we’ve never needed Patrick more at home. Beacon Hill is an unholy mess. The state budget is facing major shortfalls. Services that have already been slashed will be cut yet again.

Patrick should be wrangling more from public employee unions. He should be reforming the unwieldy human service agencies. He should be further streamlining business regulations. And he should be constantly checking in with the businesses we already have, seeing what it is that they need to prosper and grow.

He wants to take the occasional trip to China or Brazil or a Vegas trade show — sure. But please, governor, not an endless itinerary of book promotions, presidential campaign stops, and trade missions.

The rest of us will be singing, “Already I’m so lonesome I could die.’’

Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company