The Elephant In The Room: Kirwan Served in Dukakis Administration

When Deval Patrick selected Leslie Kirwan to be his budget director there was a very interesting trend in how the media described her background. As if to trumpet the idea that this pick was an example of Deval Patrick’s desire for inclusiveness, they cited Kirwan’s experience in the Weld administration. The Boston Globe wrote:

Leslie Kirwan, who has served in state government since the Weld administration, will become secretary of administration and finance, the state’s top budget aide.

Before joining Massport, Kirwan served as undersecretary and chief of staff at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance under Governor William Weld. She began her professional career at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, becoming deputy commissioner for the Division of Local Services in 1991.

The Associated Press headlined their story “Patrick names former Weld official as top budget adviser.”

What neither The Globe nor the AP decided to mention was her stint in the Michael Dukakis administration. The Boston Herald, however, did mention this fact:

Kirwan served at the state’s Department of Revenue under former Gov. Michael Dukakis, and also worked during the Weld administration at the office of administration and finance.

The Boston Globe hasn’t published a story linking Kirwan to Dukakis since 1999, according to their own search engine, while she has been linked to Weld in two stories following her appointment from Deval Patrick.

I certainly don’t believe that The Boston Globe is ignorant of Kirwan’s experience in the Dukakis administration, so the only reasonable conclusion is that they are deliberately omitting it from their coverage. I certainly don’t see that changing now, especially given her recent statements about raising local taxes and not cutting property taxes, linking her to Dukakis would simply prove that Kerry Healey was right in her warning that electing Deval Patrick would bring us back to the days of Dukakis. Of course, there’s also the “highly questionable banking deal at Massport” she was involved in.

Matt Margolis is co-author (with Mark Noonan) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at The Buffalo Bean. Follow Matt on Twitter.