Related: The First Brother and Sister of Massachusetts
"Aloisi issues apology to Globe; Reverses course on story about sister's job" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 19, 2009
State Transportation Secretary James Aloisi Jr., abruptly reversing course yesterday, publicly lashed out at the Globe for a story describing how his sister recently held a legislative job with no apparent duties and then issued an apology to the paper and one of its reporters.
The episode, one in a string of high-profile conflicts involving Governor Deval Patrick's recent appointee, began with a strongly worded blog posting on Tuesday night. In it, Aloisi criticized a Globe story that disclosed Carol Aloisi's lack of responsibilities for six months despite her $60,000-a-year salary. Aloisi called the story "misleading," "inaccurate," and "disgraceful."
In the blog, he provided no details of what he considered erroneous, and did not respond to repeated requests for comment from a Globe reporter yesterday to elaborate. On Monday, Aloisi and his sister both declined repeated requests for comment for the original story, which was published in Tuesday's Globe.
"I didn't think that it was ever appropriate for the press or others to take shots at me through members of my family, but it seems that the rules of the game have changed," Aloisi wrote on the Blue Mass Group blog, a forum frequented by Democratic activists and politicians.
His posting appeared to surprise Governor Deval Patrick's administration, which said yesterday the comments were unauthorized. Less than a day later, after his statements began to generate a fresh wave of controversy, he backtracked. In a second statement, e-mailed by a press aide, Aloisi apologized to the Globe and the reporter who covered the story and promised that he would work with more "humility" on the governor's reform agenda.
"Last night in an attempt to defend my sister - who I dearly love - I posted an ill-advised statement on Blue Mass Group where I wrongly impugned the integrity of The Boston Globe and its reporter Andrea Estes," the statement said. "I apologize for those comments and regret this error in judgment."
Patrick aides would not say whether the administration put pressure on Aloisi to issue the apology. "We support secretary Aloisi's decision to issue the statement today," said Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan.
Aloisi, a former high-level official with the Big Dig who most recently practiced law in Boston, declined requests to respond to follow-up questions. "The statement is what we put out for today," said Colin Durrant, a spokesman for Aloisi. "The statement is what you're going to get."
Durrant also declined to say whether there was any pressure put on Aloisi by the administration. He would not elaborate on why Aloisi wrote the original post, decided to issue the apology, or planned to be less outspoken.
Aloisi has not shied from controversy since Patrick appointed him to the $150,000-a-year post of transportation secretary in December, a position that puts Aloisi at the heart of the governor's push to overhaul its transportation system. One particularly delicate aspect of Patrick's plan is a proposal to hike the gas tax by 19 cents a gallon, a plan that Aloisi will have to guide through the Legislature.
That effort appeared to hit a pothole when, in a closed-door meeting earlier this month, Aloisi disparaged Senate President Therese Murray's approach to transportation legislation. He said her idea of "reform before revenue" was a "meaningless slogan."
He had previously described Turnpike Authority board member Mary Connaughton, a Republican appointee who has been sharply critical of the authority's finances, "a distraction," adding, "She's a gadfly, and I have more important things to do."
He said that about the Senate President, huh?
You are going to LOVE this HYPOCRITICAL QUOTE, madame!
"Aloisi said that with "real reform . . . cozy, little worlds don't exist anymore.... people don't like their cozy little worlds disturbed"
Tell it to YOUR SISTER, Jimbo!!!
Aloisi's statement of contrition yesterday appeared to try to address these encounters as well.
"I believe it is important to clear the air and move beyond the recent controversies," the statement said. "Since becoming secretary of transportation, my passion for realizing the governor's reform efforts has caused me to use language I have later regretted. I have meant no disrespect to legislators or other officials, and I know that only through consensus and collaboration with the Legislature and others can we get ourselves out of the mess we have inherited."
How disappointing! Stand behind your words, mate. I apologize for the profane assault on the senses, never for truth! Oh, yeah, then you should apologize, scumbag!
He added: "I look forward to working with our partners in the Legislature to bring about meaningful transportation reform with renewed vigor and greater humility."
Before his about-face, Aloisi said in the posting Tuesday night that his sister had an "unblemished record" since she began working in the House in 2003 and that she had repeatedly sought reassignment beginning last August when she was posted in the vacant State House office of a former legislator, a job that left her with nothing to do.
"She has been a leader in the state Democratic Party for many years," he said. "She has never needed to call on me for help in getting a job or keeping a job."
Carol Aloisi was hired by former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi to be chief of staff for Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Democrat of Springfield. Last year, Aloisi asked to be transferred after a dispute over attendance.
Isn't it GREAT how the GLOBE COVERS UP the DETAILS of the little goldbricker?
Related: The First Brother and Sister of Massachusetts
In September, the speaker's office sent her to the office of Representative Rachel Kaprielian, even though the Watertown Democrat had left months before to become registrar of motor vehicles.
Blue Mass Group has been a forum for some members of the Patrick administration, whose supporters frequent the site. David Kravitz, a Blue Mass Group founder, said he wants the blog "to be part of the conversation about what's going on in the state."
"It's an open forum," Kravitz said. "Anyone can post. That obviously includes the secretary of transportation. I have no problem with him coming on the site and saying whatever he wants."
Responding to Aloisi's comments, state Republican Party spokesman Barney Keller said: "Given this and his previous outbursts, apparently Jim Aloisi lacks the temperament of a Cabinet secretary. What is even more peculiar about this rant is that he still denies his own role and responsibility for the fiasco that is the Big Dig."
--more--"
No kidding. See: The Big Pit
Btw, I'm not worried about my tempermant; I'm not a Cabinet secretary.
Update:
What an ARROGANT PRICK!!!!
"Patrick defends embattled Aloisi; Says recent controversies are 'trivial'" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | March 20, 2009
Governor Deval Patrick strongly defended Secretary of Transportation James A. Aloisi Jr. yesterday.... and dismissed as "trivial" the recent public outcry over various Beacon Hill controversies - including Patrick's appointment last week of a state senator to a $175,000-a-year state job.
Please tell me he didn't say that. Please tell me he is not that stoo-pid!!!!
See: State Taxpayers and Special Elections
I'm livid, readers.
Yeah, the guy just EXUDES ARROGANCE:
Governor Deval Patrick was welcomed yesterday at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Framingham by the principal, Robin Welch (seated to Patrick's left). (JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF)
Btw, I'm not the only one ticked off at
"We're angry at Deval Patrick."
Yes, those are YOUR FRIENDS, guverner!
"One of the challenges in life is concentrating on the meaningful and letting the trivial take a back seat," Patrick said. "And I sometimes feel like I'm in a profession now where that is completely upside down. We are trying to concentrate on what's meaningful."
Patrick has drawn heavy fire for his appointment of Senator Marian Walsh last week as assistant director of the state Health and Education Facilities Authority, a job that had been vacant for 12 years. The move appeared to violate a pledge he made after his election in 2006, in which he ran as a reformer, that he would not appoint lawmakers to high-profile jobs.
Aloisi this week, in an unusual blog posting, publicly lashed out at the Globe for a story describing how his sister recently held a $60,000-a-year legislative job that had no apparent duties....
"He's my guy," Patrick said of Aloisi in a brief interview yesterday. "And he's doing a good job - with a very, very tough assignment."
Oh, oh! Brownie, you are doing a super job!
When asked whether he stood behind Aloisi, Patrick said, "Of course. What kind of question is that?"
MSM question.
Asked at a press conference if he requested that Aloisi apologize to the Globe this week, Patrick did not answer directly, saying, "I don't think he needed to be asked." Approached a second time after the press conference, he stared straight ahead and did not respond....
--more--"