Deval Patrick Thinks You Are Stupid

When Joe the Plumber asked Barack Obama a tough question, Barack Obama attacked Joe the Plumber.

The citizens of the Commonwealth are complaining about Pike toll increases, Bechtel Parsons getting a $30 million parking garage contract, the Turnpike Authority giving out raises, all this while Massachusetts is losing jobs and trying to impose a gas tax hike, and Deval Patrick is calling us cynics, and stupid.

Enough with the “cheap shots,” said Gov. Deval Patrick, complaining again about media coverage and blaming criticism of his proposals on “cynicism.”

Oh yeah? Enough with the whining, countered a couple of critics.

Patrick was at Suffolk University to mark the state’s No. 1 ranking in a national survey of economic competitiveness when he made his remarks.

“We are awash in cynicism in the commonwealth, but the cynical are not smart; they’re just pretending to be,” Patrick said. “The truth is, we’ve got big problems, and we better start thinking big about the solutions. Ideological purity from the left or the right, in times like these, is like trying to put a Band-Aid on a broken bone.”

He wouldn’t say who he was talking about. Some pols have criticized Patrick’s proposal to abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and other plans out of the Corner Office have been tossed back and forth on talk radio and in the opinion pages. GOP political consultant Holly Robichaud and state GOP party chair Barney Keller said Patrick has been his own worst enemy, citing unkept promises, such as lowering property taxes and adding 1,000 new cops.

Governor Patrick, GO SCREW! Who do you think you are calling stupid? Take a long, hard look in the mirror buddy, because staring back at you is the face of a man who will undoubtedly go down in Massachusetts history as the worst governor…ever. Go screw, Governor. We are tired of your broken promises.

If you are fed up with Deval Patrick and these cockamamie plans to jack up the Pike tolls while the Turnpike Authority is giving out raises, and Beacon Hill schemes to raise our taxes, think about attending the ‘Stop The Pike Hike’ Rally on December 3rd. For more information on the rally, visit stopthepikehike.org.

More on this story at Deval Patrick Watch.

Deval Unveils Ten Year Budget-Busting Education Plan

Deval Patrick ran on a promise to lower property taxes… and yet his plan to overhaul education hardly screams “lower property taxes.”

Governor Deval Patrick unveiled his plan to overhaul public education in Massachusetts on Monday.

It’s a plan that includes a longer school year, a longer school day and possibly free community colleges.

At the Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, the Governor made his suggestions for changes over the next 10 years.

While Deval accepts applause for such lofty goals, would he like to explain just how he plans to pay for this plan, or is he just hoping that he won’t be governor long enough to be held accountable?

UPDATE, June 24, 2008: MassGOP Executive Director Rob Willington issued the following statement today, on Deval’s latest blue-ribbon commission to figure out how to pay for the results of his first blue-ribbon commission.

“Let me get this straight. Governor Patrick convened a commission to come up with education reforms, but now needs another commission to figure out how to pay for it? We’d ask the Governor to explain to the public why he can’t make good on his promise for property tax relief, but he’d probably have to appoint a commission to figure out an answer.”

We Told You So

We said back in the campaign not to expect property taxes to be cut under Deval Patrick’s watch…

Well, we were right… on that and more…

Travaglini’s Public “Rebuke” of Deval Patrick

Senate President Travaglini, speaking before approximately 300 people at the Hyatt Hotel during a meeting of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, made the “first public sign of a fissure” between the Democratic Legislature and governor-elect Deval Patrick, according to the Boston Globe.

Senate President Robert E. Travaglini yesterday publicly scolded incoming governor Deval Patrick, telling a breakfast audience that he had warned Patrick to cooperate with the Legislature or Travaglini would withdraw support for Patrick’s agenda.

In remarks that shocked some in the audience, the Senate president said that he wants to work with the governor-elect, but he strong-ly suggested that if things don’t go well, the Senate will block Patrick’s legislative efforts.

According to the notes of one audience member, Travaglini said: “I told the governor-elect, if you’re willing to share and you care and you prepare and are ready to deliver, then everything will work out. If not, I have senators across the state who share my vision and my approach and if forced to choose, I’m comfortable with whom they’ll choose.”

It’s hard to really judge exactly what Travaglini’s intentions were from this story, but, after reading the whole thing, I have my doubts that Travaglini’s “scolding” was sincere.

First of all, Deval hasn’t even taken office yet, so Travaglini really has nothing to scold him yet for. But, he does have reason(s) to be praising Deval, since James Aloisi, a close friend of Travaglini, is on Deval’s shortlist for secretary of transportation, despite Aloisi’s connections to the “Big Dig culture” that Deval was harshly criticial of during the campaign… This leads me to believe that Travaglini’s “scolding” was an act.

Further adding suspicion, the five people (who chose to remain anonynmous) that confirmed Travaglini’s remarks at the Hyatt, suggested his comments “appeared to be designed to dispel the idea that because Democrats will control the House, the Senate, and the governor’s office next year, the state will return to lavish spending,” something Kerry Healey warned about during the campaign.

Was this so-called “scolding” a stunt to give the appearance of Deval Patrick’s “independence” from the legislature? We likely won’t ever know definitively, but it could have been.

The Democrats still have a veto-proof majority in the Legislature… So, it doesn’t particularly matter if Deval is “willing to share” or “ready to deliver,” as Travaglini put it… It “will work out” regardless. So the harsh rhetoric from Travaglini does seem suspicious.

Adding even more suspicion about Travaglini’s “scolding” is his account his private meetings with Deval.

The audience members also reported that Travaglini said Patrick downplayed his promise to slash waste in the budget, though yesterday Patrick’s office insisted he stood firmly by his vow to cut inefficient spending.

Travaglini said that in recent discussions with Patrick, he warned the governor-elect to stop making public promises to cut $1 billion in waste.

The Senate president said he told Patrick that the pledge insults the Legislature. If there is that much bloat in the budget, Travaglini said, then he hasn’t been doing his job.

Patrick has repeatedly said he can find $735 million in wasteful spending in the yearly budget. According to audience members, Travaglini said when he objected to the figure, Patrick backed off and said he didn’t really mean it.

Travaglini said he told him: “If you don’t mean it, you shouldn’t say it, ” according to several people who attended the breakfast. Travaglini said he told Patrick that he needs to stop campaigning and begin governing.

We can reasonably assume that the discussion Travaglini mentioned happened during his post-election meeting with Patrick, which he described at the time as “extremely positive,” saying it “set a great tone for the future.”

So why is Travaglini changing his tone now?

Now, either Deval Patrick’s self-righteous campaign rhetoric about “leadership” was all joke, and he merely buckled at Travaglini’s threats… or his self-righteous campaign rhetoric about “honesty” was a lie, and we should be suspicious of all his campaign promises… or both. It’s probably both.

If Deval told Travaglini that he “didn’t really mean it” when he promised during the campaign to cut wasteful spending, then Travaglini’s “scolding” of Deval wasn’t really a scolding at all. If Travaglini’s story is true, then he and Deval are really on the same page, and Deval’s campaign promises were just promises he made to get elected, but not ones he ever intended to keep.

The economy was a big issue during the campaign, and if Deval Patrick really “didn’t really mean it” when he said he’d cut wasteful spending, then I’m sure there were a lot of other promises he made that he never planned to follow through on, such as cutting property taxes, and bringing transparency back to Beacon Hill.

Both Deval Patrick and the Legislature will benefit from the appearance of independence from eachother. Both have to “prove” that they can stand up to and oppose the other. So we can expect over the next four years even more examples of alleged “fissures” between them.

UPDATE: Trav is now saying he “misspoke.” Anyone believe him?

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.