"A chill in the political air; Patrick’s rifts with Menino point to bigger woe" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | August 6, 2009
Their chilly relationship has only grown colder. In the past few weeks alone, Patrick declined to endorse Menino’s reelection bid and slashed, without warning, funding for the zoo in the heart of Menino’s city.
Related: Globe is Governor's Attack Dog
A Day at the Boston Zoo
And Menino? He belittled Patrick over zoo funding. (“Another bad decision on budget cuts.’’) He publicly came to the aid of the MBTA leader Patrick is trying to oust. (“We need to support Grabauskas in any way possible.’’) He also sharply broke with Patrick on cutting police details, one of the governor’s signature issues.
The result: The governor of the state and the mayor of its capital city, both Democrats aligned on core party issues, have regularly found themselves at odds.
Their personal distance is emblematic of a larger dilemma that Patrick, who came into office challenging the status quo on Beacon Hill, is facing heading into his 2010 reelection campaign. Poll numbers suggest the governor needs all the political help he can get to win a second term, but he has strained relationships with several leaders of his own party.
See: Patrick's Plummeting Polls
“He’s warm and fuzzy to his constituents, but he’s not warm and fuzzy to elected officials,’’ said Menino, who enjoyed closer ties with Republican governors.
Then let's GET ANOTHER ONE!
Menino, known for his thin skin, said he has “watched and admired’’ Patrick, adding that the governor is a “great spokesman for us and the Commonwealth.’’ But in the back-slapping, glad-handing world of Democratic politics in Massachusetts, Menino sees Patrick as out of his element.
“He doesn’t come out of the governmental world; he comes out of the business world,’’ said Menino. “He doesn’t understand every word is weighted. It’s something he hasn’t mastered.’’
But Patrick never wanted to master the political decorum that many long-time politicians have come to expect. He prides himself on being a politician of a new order, oriented more to the public than his colleagues in elective office.
Scary terminology: Globalist Governor Has Got an Agenda
“I mean to be respectful to all people, and my first focus is and must be the regular folks who are looking to the governor for leadership, or comfort, or support,’’ Patrick said in an interview. “And that is where I give most of my attention, and that implies nothing about the importance of other elected officials. It just says something about where my first focus tends to be.’’
What a slimy s***-scum!!!!!!!!
Governor Guts State ServicesPigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
How many times I gotta put 'em up?
Patrick has had rocky relationships with several of the state’s top Democrats. Senate President Therese Murray, who declined recently to explicitly endorse Patrick’s reelection bid, has made little effort to hide her hostility....
“The niceties are there, but, fundamentally, if you were going into battle with someone and you had to trust somebody, I don’t think that he’s earned their trust,’’ said one Democratic consultant, who asked not to be identified for fear of alienating clients. “And he would say, ‘Fundamentally, I don’t understand them.’ They would say it’s about introducing them or acknowledging them at events, and he would say, ‘Who cares?’ ’’
Bye-bye, Deval! Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out!
Despite the friction, Patrick celebrates what he believes are major achievements he and top lawmakers have achieved together, including a balanced budget in a dismal economy.
Yeah, you had to do that BY LAW!!
Yup, the TAX INCREASE was a REAL WINNER!
State Senator Mark C. Montigny, a Democrat from New Bedford and an early Patrick supporter, said the fact that the governor has some strained relationships is unsurprising.
“People didn’t elect a schmoozer in chief,’’ Montigny said. “Naturally, when you take on that entrenched, immovable culture, there is a price. Part of that price is the ruffled feathers in that culture.’’
Do these guys think they can just spew s*** and we'll eat it up.
Last week, Patrick summoned several dozen lawmakers to his campaign headquarters for a 90-minute meeting to thank them for their support, ask for their help in his reelection, and hear any concerns they have. But ultimately, said state Senator James B. Eldridge, a Democrat from Acton and a strong Patrick supporter, it is not about how many elected officials you have in your corner.
“I’d like to think my endorsement means a lot, but I’m not sure that it does,’’ Eldridge said. “It’s his message and his grassroots support.’’
Which is nil!
Patrick and Menino, who hail from vastly different political cultures, started off on opposing political turf, with Menino supporting former attorney general Thomas F. Reilly over Patrick in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Menino has never had to interact with a Democratic governor, and before Patrick took office it had always been clear that the mayor was at the pinnacle of Boston politics.
Yup, he's a JEALOUS MAYOR!!!!
Can this s***-rag be any more one-sided and biased in favor of that agenda-pushing s***ter?
Tellingly, Menino enjoyed good personal relationships with previous GOP governors.
Patrick the prick, huh?
Menino and Bill Weld would get together at the Parkman House on Beacon Hill, and he met Paul Cellucci for dinner about once a month, often at the Filippo Restaurant in the North End; His relationship with Jane Swift has been described as one like a father and daughter.
The mayor and Patrick have had phone conversations, including several in recent days, but the only dinner together that Menino remembers is one they agreed to attend with guests who won the dinner in a raffle. Still, people close to both men say they are able to work together. They both testified recently in favor of reforming the state’s criminal records laws. Patrick pushed, successfully, to give cities and towns the ability to increase taxes on meals and hotel rooms, something Menino has long desired.
They have both supported the licensing of resort casinos and reforming state pension laws, and Patrick recently helped broker an agreement to bring the Tall Ships to Boston.
Related: Taxpayers Got Took By Tall Ships
But Menino is not known to forget a perceived slight, despite his insistence otherwise. That night in 2006 when Patrick won the election, Senator John Kerry introduced the new lieutenant governor, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy introduced the new governor. Confetti poured down from the ceiling....
--more--"Globe confirms their bias with an editorial:
"Menino waves the flag for police unions
IF MAYOR MENINO wants to give a gift to city police officers, he can write a personal check to the charitable Boston Police Relief Association, not risk taxpayer funds by undermining a statewide effort to replace paid police details with civilian flaggers.
Oh, they have SOME NERVE!
Governor Guts State Services
Pigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
How many times I gotta put 'em up?
Menino submitted a home-rule petition this week....
And that's the real problem, isn't it, fascistas:
Menino is using the legislation, in part, to curry favor with police unions, whose members can easily earn an extra $20,000 a year from paid details.
SO?
I'd rather it go there than Hollywood, biotech, UMass administrators, and on and on! Yeah, BLAME the CHUMP CHANGE the cops get for our budget woes, you Zionist whore!
The mayor opposes flaggers, even on lonely side streets. The nonprofit Boston Municipal Research Bureau argues the city could save $2 million if even a third of roadwork details went to lower-paid flaggers.
I say GET IT from HOLLYWOOD!!!!
But the usually thrifty Menino has ignored the argument. That’s one way to secure the support, or neutrality, of police in his reelection campaign. It’s a political calculation, and one where taxpayers, utility rate payers, and businesses are on the bottom....
Since WHEN has the PRO-TAX Globe cared about the TAXPAYER?
What INSULTING ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And you wanna criticize political calculations?
CRITICIZE your WONDER BOY GUV, Globe: Patrick's Political Scapegoating
This traffic snarl needs to get fixed quickly so people can get to work. Regardless, the City Council should reject Menino’s home-rule petition, which puts political convenience above the public interest.
Public interest?
"We also believe ballot measures are a dreadful way to decide most public policy questions"
From the bastion of democracy, the Boston Globe.
Yeah, so deals can be hacked out in the back rooms that favor Jewish interests!
Frikkin' agenda-pushing piece of crap!
--more--"
