Massachusetts Liberal

Vital(e) statistics

2008-05-17T08:59:00.003-04:00

Richard Vitale has filed paperwork saying he isn't a lobbyist and hasn't take any money to get the Massachusetts House to change the way tickets can be re-sold in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Association of Ticket Brokers says it paid Vitale $60,000 in 2007 -- and will file a 2008 spending report later this year.

It appears someone has some 'splainin' to do. And it better a whole lot more convincing than George Regan's insistence that Vitale was a "strategist" and:

“No apportionment has been made to determine what amount, if any, is attributable to any lobbying, or if such lobbying activities were in fact performed.”

Vitale's filing with the Secretary of State's office did not include a list of clients but he has said he was paid to plot strategy help win passage in the House of a bill that would essentially deregulate their industry.

Secretary of State William Galvin has already declared that the law sees no distinction between providing strategy and lobbying. Sounds like lobbying to me too.

This is only getting worse for Vitale and his friend, House Speaker Sal DiMasi. The Charlestown accountant has already been shown the door by the firm he helped to found -- Regan's insistence on a "long-planned retirement notwithstanding. DiMasi is now getting drawn deeper into a vortex that, this time, appears not to be of his own making.

It would seem the wisest course of action would be for Vitale to file an amended lobbying report -- and pronto. List all clients and payments and let's not split hairs over strategy, counsel and lobbying.

If this lingers until the deadline for the 2008 reports, the damage to Vitale's friend DiMasi will be irreparable. And we know the vultures are already circling over him too.

Let the smears begin

2008-05-16T05:07:00.003-04:00

George Bush, the man who brought you weapons of mass destruction and Abu Ghraib, is looking to impart his wisdom upon the American people. Fool me three times, shame on everyone.

The man who is singlehandedly responsible for the deplorable status of the United States around the world, chose to inject himself into the 2008 presidential contest by offering his "words of wisdom" from the dais of the Israel Knesset (whatever happened to the man who only wanted to sleep in his own bed? I guess you go searching for love.)

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Yes indeed, who do have an obligation to call his speech for what it is: the launching of the Politics of Fear and Smear, using harsh words and overblown rhetoric in an attempt to scare the American public into voting the Republican.

And to make sure no one missed his point, he added:

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Bush mouthpiece Dana Perino disingenuously denied the Slanderer-in-Chief was referring to anyone in particular:

“I understand when you’re running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you — that is not always true and it is not true in this case."

However when you match the Bush smear against the tactics of John McCain and the Republican Party -- everything from the invocation of Barack Obama's middle name to McCain's attempt to say Obama has Hamas' endorsement -- the pattern of the emerging smear becomes vividly clear.

With polls showing a small but virulent subset of the Democratic-leaning voters displaying racist tendencies, let's throw in a little xenophobia and outright distortion too. Straight from the GOP Swift Boat playbook.

One problem though: St. John McCain falls into the appeaser category too. In an interview on British Sky News a few years ago, here's what McCain had to say about talking to Hamas, which had just won the Palestinian elections:

"They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

In other words, McCain is an appeaser who wants to talk to terrorists -- even those who "endorse" Obama.

The real lesson to be learned from Bush's performance is the fact he has no shame. Launching a partisan political attack on the dais of a foreign government's Parliament -- far away from people he is attacking -- is the ultimate in cowardice.

Bush has deluded himself and, for a time, a majority of the American people, to think he knew what he was doing. He took a just cause -- fighting those who attacked us on 9-11 by pursuing them to Afghanistan -- and turned it into a misguided misadventure to topple an unrelated tyrant.

He did that without a plan for peace for the nation we have helped to descend into a religious civil war. He squandered precious lives and untold billions in his foolish pursuit, besmirching our reputation in a tangle of torture, illegal domestic spying and partisanship that clearly doesn't end at the oceans edge in what used to be an American tradition.

It is his refusal to speak -- and more importantly to listen -- to those who may have a different idea that has gotten us into this mess. His credibility is in tatters, with only 28 percent of the public supporting his misbegotten policies.

It's equally important to note that Mr. Straight Talk failed to address the smear head on:

“I think that Barack Obama needs to explain why he wants to sit down and talk with a man who is the head of a government that is a state sponsor of terrorism, that is responsible for the killing of brave young Americans, that wants to wipe Israel off the map, who denies the Holocaust. That’s what I think Senator Obama ought to explain to the American people.”

Perhaps you can start by explaining why you think that "new reality" in the Middle East has morphed back into the same old you know what in just a few short years.

The 2008 general election campaign has just gotten off to an appalling start. Divide and conquer. Fear and smear. The hallmark of the Bush-McCain Republican Party.

The House of Cards

2008-05-15T05:21:00.002-04:00

Boy, it was sure good timing on Sal DiMasi's part to repay the loan he got from long-time friend and accountant Richard Vitale.

Vitale could probably use the $178,000 leftover balance now that he has "retired" from the accounting firm he helped to found 30 years ago.

“This has been in the works since last July. It was a perfect storm,” Vitale spokesman George Regan said. “He cashed out and a new partner was named to take over his accounts. That was his intention, to retire all along.”

Why don't I believe Regan that this action, days after Vitale belatedly registered as a lobbyist -- and just one day after Ace Ticket did what he did not and acknowledged they were his client -- was in the works for a long time?

Is it because the IRS paperwork for the golf tournament that Vitale runs in his brother's name and hosted by DiMasi is still not up-to-date? Aren't accountants and the IRS supposed to work hand-in-hand?

I guess that all amiable, "phased-in" retirements include the abrupt decision to take the founder's picture and profile off the the company web site.

That helpful GOP

2008-05-15T05:04:00.003-04:00

Massachusetts Senate Republicans are graciously lending Deval Patrick a hand with the state's impending fiscal problems by promising to offer an amendment to that chamber's fiscal 2009 budget that would enable casino gambling.

"We want to fortify the governor's efforts going forward if he intends to refile the bill in the new year," said Senator Michael Knapik, Republican of Westfield. "Plus, we need the money."

Here's a sure thing: ain't going to make it.

While senators of both political persuasions may be annoyed they never got a chance to weigh in on the initial casino bill, I'd like the chances of the amendments success more seriously if the author was someone like Quincy Democrat Michael Morrissey.

It's a safe bet this little piece of mischief won't even make it conference. The House may currently be in chaos with House Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo more interested in counting votes than dollars, but a gambling proposal would make the Finneran-Birmingham balacony budget meetings look quaint.

Speaker Sal DiMasi and Senate President Terry Murray would be wearing long coats and snowshoes if they repeated that saga.

For anyone interested in the details of the Senate plan, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (PDF) runs rings around the daily newspapers for details.

Et tu Johnnie?

2008-05-14T19:20:00.002-04:00

So much for Hillary Clinton savoring her West Virginia trashing of Barack Obama. The Illinois senator may have gotten the ultimate white man endorsement.

John Edwards has held his counsel for quite awhile, looking to play kingmaker. It's highly doubtful he wants to play second banana on another national ticket.

But by jumping on the Obama bandwagon they day after Clinton's West Virginia landslide, he has helped change the tone once again. You know Clinton was courting Edwards just as hard. His decision to move today is a loud signal to Clinton that it's time to roll up her tent and help unify Democrats.

(Washington Post photo)

So predictable

2008-05-14T19:00:00.005-04:00

The radio clicks on at 6 a.m. with the news of a Green Line derailment. I didn't really need to do more than mutter "Breda" and give thanks the day was nice so I wouldn't need to ride the Green Line Cattle Car, er, bus shuttle.

And I can save the MBTA a lot of time and money. The derailment at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Chestnut Hill Avenue early this morning was caused by the last train of the night whipping through the turn at something approaching warp speed so the operator could get to Boston College and go home.

That a Breda car would jump the rails is hardly news -- even thought it has been awhile since it happened. The damn things are lemons as Smilin' Dan Grabauskas acknowledged in one of his few good moves when he cancelled the contract. Until he reversed himself and started buying them again.

Then there is the fact that operators are either oblivious to the whiplash potential in the rear when they speed up as the front end of the train whips through curves at Brighton Avenue and Chestnut Hill Avenue.

Or they just enjoy tossing people on their keisters.

But this derailment is especially troubling. How could the car become so unstable as to hit a power pole? And what kind of safeguards are (or are not) in place to prevent it from going up in flames.

The T is extremely lucky there were only 30 people at 1:30 a.m. Imagine what would have happened at 1:30 p.m. Or 5:30 p.m.

(Boston Globe photo)

That elephant is still in the room

2008-05-14T05:02:00.006-04:00

A few months back, I wrote about the Republican Party's use of race as a wedge issue in presidential elections, a trend that had been foreseen by Lyndon Johnson after signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

A conservative Republican from Arizona was running for president that year and lost, badly. But he became the first Republican to win the South, a fact that laid the foundations of a "Southern Strategy" that came of age in brutal fashion under Richard Nixon.

At its core, the strategy was to use race as the ultimate wedge in American society -- part of the shameful legacy of Nixon and the party that has strayed a long, long way since its birth as the party of Abraham Lincoln.

With the first African-American man poised to capture the nomination of a major political party, it's rearing its ugly head again -- exploited by the likely Democratic also-ran who said what every so-called expert has been thinking:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," [Sen. Hillary Clinton] she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

Certainly race has been key factor in coverage of the outbursts of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The hateful sayings of white conservative religious "leaders" such as John Hagee -- not to mention the smarmy quotes over the years by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson -- have been dismissed far more easily than Wright's over-the-top rants.

Race is also still clearly on the minds of Southern state voters who participated in Clinton's late-season shellacking of Obama in West Virginia.

The number of white Democratic voters who said race had influenced their choices on Tuesday was among the highest recorded in voter surveys in the nomination fight. Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes. More than 8 in 10 who said it factored in their votes backed Mrs. Clinton, according to exit polls.

But is it really that simple?

On the same night in a congressional district in Mississippi, a battleground state in the nation's race war, a Democrat, albeit a conservative one, won a traditionally Republican congressional seat -- even when the GOP tried to hang Barack Obama around his neck like an anchor.

That followed by 10 days a similar party shift in Louisiana. And in a campaign without racial overtones, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat went Democratic earlier this spring.

So what's the stronger feeling in this nation -- anti-black or anti-Republican?

There's obviously been a deep-seated duality in a nation that declared that all men are created equal while prohibiting women from the vote and allowing blacks to be owned as human chattel. We have slowly but surely overcome most of those dark angels.

But this Democratic primary, pitting an African-American man against a woman, has really brought home all the contradictions. Two important parts of the Democratic coalition are battling each other over who is more aggrieved.

In short, it should be Karl Rove's dream. The man who perfected the Nixon Southern Strategy -- and who now takes the airwaves as a conservative pundit -- must be feeling pretty chipper. Right?

Not so fast. Call me naive, but I believe when the Democratic family argument ends (mercifully) in the next few weeks, it will not be something the GOP savors.

Despite all the current divisions between black and white, men and women there remains a deeper chasm -- created by Turd Blossom in the name of his ex-boss Boy Blunder -- the divide over everything else in this nation. That fact will unite feuding Democrats.

It's hard to ignore the fact that four-fifths of the American people feel this country is heading in the wrong direction. But this is not 1988, when a campaign based on flag (or flag pins) and race and the use of liberal as an epithet worked because our country had a popular retiring president and relative prosperity.

That year we had a Bush seeking a third term for a popular Republican president named Reagan. This time around we have an Arizona senator seeking the third term of a different Bush, one destined to go down as the most unpopular president in history.

We have a war without end, crippling gasoline prices and an economy in trouble with the Republican candidate on the wrong side of those issues.

West Virginia is typical of many of the state's facing these problems -- but they really didn't have a chance to vote the issues here. Except for the gasoline tax, there's no real substantive difference between Clinton and Obama.

So West Virginia voters had some fun at Democrats' expense. Call it the traditional buyer's remorse stage of the campaign.

Mississippi and Louisiana are the real bellwethers of the Southern Strategy of 2008.

Mr. Speaker speaks

2008-05-13T05:10:00.004-04:00

House Speaker Sal DiMasi has broken his silence about allegations swirling around him, his friends and his would-be successors. There's little doubt that he is outraged over the litany of problems that has led to his doorstep.

"Like any of us, I do not control the conduct or actions of others," wrote DiMasi, without mentioning names or specific instances. "As elected officials, we in the Legislature are all subject to the unfortunate inclination of others to use our name without our knowledge or authorization."

But outrage only works when you are a blogger who can sit back and cast judgment on the actions of others. You need specifics when you are an elected official under fire for actions that look shaky to outside observers.

DiMasi probably opted not to address specifics under advice of counsel. Good legal strategy but it does have holes as a PR move to quell questions. We look to the efforts of Geraldine Ferraro and John McCain to take questions from reporters publicly until they ran out of things to ask as an example of how to do it right. Call it the Tylenol strategy.

Instead, DiMasi sought to bring reporters in one by one, into his impressive office. Rather than a take-all-comers, no holds barred session (that no doubt would have been broadcast live somewhere), DiMasi opted for what he knows and does best -- bringing someone onto his own turf to use his considerable charm and powers of persuasion on them.

Of course, neither Ferraro nor McCain had four separate legal cases going against them. While DiMasi may feel snappish about the complaints brought by the Massachusetts Republican Party, there are real facts that can be found by the state Ethics Commission.

That body doesn't have overwhelming enforcement and punishment mechanisms. But they can most certainly make his political life miserable if they find in favor of even one complaint.

He also issued a two-page letter to his members that is long on assertions and short on specifics.

"I have made my decisions based solely on the best interests of my constituents and the people of the Commonwealth," he wrote. "I have never, ever conducted myself in a way that would favor the interests of any individual.

"All my personal relationships and financial transactions have been at arm's length from any state business, have been fully disclosed to the public, and have never influenced my decisions on any legislative matter," he said. "I am outraged that my reputation, my integrity, and my good name have been called into question."

DiMasi has clearly been damaged by these episodes -- which are far more grievous than Deval Patrick's failure to take into account how his decision on office decor, official transportation and personal time activities will look to the public.

Yes, there were public dollars involved in at least two of Patrick's poor decisions. And there was the very shaky Ameriquest call. But none of them rise to the level of potential conflict as conducting public business with friends.

If DiMasi was aware of those actions, he will pay a significant price. If, as he insists, he was unaware of the various matters involving Richard Vitale, Jay and Christy Scott Cashman, he at least needs to find friends who won't stab him in the back.

CHB fact checking

2008-05-12T06:38:00.003-04:00

I normally don't bother with Dan Shaughnessy. In fact it took me years to figure out what CHB stands for. I saw his contrarian streak a long time ago.

But as a native Clevelander (and a loyal, non-band wagon Celtics fan) I was drawn to his stuff recently -- especially Sunday's non-slap at the erstwhile Mistake on the Lake.

So I started out on today's column, and made it no farther the fifth paragraph:

The Celtics will be transported to the arena on a Duck Boat. The tour guide will tell them that Lake Erie is the Charles River. They'll be told Cleveland's historic Key Tower is actually the Custom House Tower. Jacobs Field? That's Fenway Park. Janet Marie Smith has really made the place over, no?

Historic Key Tower? Now I've been away a long time, so if it was built after I left, it ain't historic. Does that look historic to you? Does it look like the Custom House? Competed in 1991? He no doubt was thinking about historic Terminal Tower, built in the 1930s. That looks like the Custom House Tower.

OK, so he's not a history buff. But Jacobs Field? That's so 2007. Granted the home of the Indians was named after former owner Richard Jacobs when CHB last set foot in Cleveland last fall.

But now it's Progressive Field, named after the city's big insurance company. Personally I liked The Jake better, but money talks and well, Shaughnessy provides the rest.

The Prog (ugh!) is right next door to the Quicken Loans Arena. You know the place where Game Three was played. You might have seen it when you walked in the door on Saturday?

As for the rest of the piece -- well I do like the idea of the Celtics trying to create the comforts of home on the road. It's hard to understand why the best road team in the regular season has turned into this group of stumblebums. Anything to restore a sense of normalcy.

Go Celts!

Not your grandfather's tax cut

2008-05-12T05:45:00.000-04:00

I don't know about Barbara Anderson, but repealing the Massachusetts income tax would mean real money in my pocket. A lot more than the 18 bucks she envisions getting. And a lot more than the 30 bucks that most folks would see from Hillary's gas tax holiday.

And when you look at the people circulating and signing the petitions, you can't help but notice they are normal moms and dads -- no extra heads or limbs -- who are struggling to make ends as the economy goes south.

Anderson's comments about the impact of the proposed initiative to eliminate the Massachusetts income tax seem oddly out of sync for our state's most famous tax fighter. Because the proposal put forward by Carla Howell, the Libertarian candidate for governor in 2002, dwarfs anything she has done, cutting state revenues by something in the $12 billion range -- from a total state budget in the $28 billion range.

How would the state cut $12 billion? That's three times the sum the state sends cities and towns for public schools. Laying off every state employee would only save about $5 billion, said Cam Huff, a private policy consultant who studies the state budget.

Hardly chump change.

What do you realistically think will happen? Are schools going to close? Will police and firefighting services end? Will trash no longer be picked up or streets no longer plowed in winter?

Of course not. People have become far too accustomed to the no tax and spend snake oil offered by "supply side" advocates for the last 30 years. I always come back to what may be an apocryphal story where someone got up on a TV talk show and lamented "why do the taxpayers have to pay for it. Why can't government pay for it?"

So how does "government" pay for it?

The property tax is not the answer -- it's capped at 2.5 percent annual increases.

Sales tax? Not unless you are looking at double digits, a sure way to end the business we get from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York, where sales taxes are higher.

Hike the corporate tax rate? Not a chance. They are already lamenting they are overtaxed and do you seriously think corporations would stick around in a state without quality schools or services? What do you think this is -- Mississippi?

Higher taxes on beer, booze and butts and tolls? What do you think this is -- New Hampshire?

Nope we would be looking at a serious new way of life. The assessments you pay in some communities for trash collection would be expanded to includes police, fire and schools. User fees, if you will. Add the plowing fee in winter. The leaf cleanup assessment in the fall.

Parks -- a luxury. Plow 'em under and build houses and stores that will add to the meager property tax and sales tax base.

Public transportation? You must be kidding. More cars means more gas tax collections. And we can add a pollution control assessment to the cost of the driver's license and tags. Not that it would control pollution. But look at the bright side -- traffic would ease off as people move out.

Petition backers will scream that this is all fearmongering, that the world did not end when Proposition 2 1/2 passed despite similar dire threats.

But the cuts then were quieter -- people laid off. We are talking about either wholesale elimination of services or the imposition of "user fees" that would make the current assessments for things from trash pickup to school sports seem like vending machine coinage.

And this is serious. The proposal received support from 45 percent of the voters the last time it was on the ballot. People are worried about their jobs and their homes in an economy where foreclosures are growing as fast as war spending. You can't do anything about the ineptitude and inaction at the federal level, so you lash out where you can.

Plus many voters like Anderson are annoyed because they haven't received the money they were due from the income tax rollback pushed by Canadian Ambassador A. Paul Cellucci in 2000.

A tanking economy prompted legislators to suspend the rollback in 2002, although there are signs revenues has returned to healthy enough levels that another reduction -- from 5.3 percent to 5.25 percent -- could kick in this year.

A word of advice to Deval Patrick and legislative leaders: let this reduction go through, no matter how tight the fiscal 2009 budget may look.

That is of course if the House can focus on anything other than speaker succession planning. Or the governor can take a few evenings off from writing his book.

Fighting the last war

2008-05-11T12:04:00.003-04:00

While we can argue endlessly about liberal versus conservative journalists and media bias, I am willing to give one point in that debate: journalists (pundits in particular) and Democrats tend to fight the last war.

Case in point: Joan Vennochi's lament that Barack Obama is a politician (horrors!) who, now having been exposed by his former pastor will dissolve into a Dukakis-Kerry-like puddle of Jello when faced with the McCain Machine.

Vennochi takes umbrage with Obama's shift in positions in an number of areas, starting with Wright, and reacts with dismay that he actually worked to pass legislation that could benefits all parties in the debate.

But the "Washington Problem" is not that the players are politicians. It is that they have put party above country and refused to seek common ground. The pointy-headed Washington bureaucrat argument is so 1968.

The Globe's Mother Ship offers three very good examples that they have started to recognize there is a new war that needs to be confronted -- while also demonstrating that this time around it's the GOP that may opt to fight the last one, simple because they have no weapons left in their arsenal except for fear and smear.

For starters, yes Obama is a politician! But he is a pragmatic one, someone who will try to get to yes and not a George "Hold My Breath Until I Turn Blue" Bush type who thinks principles (he truly believes in torture) are more important than accomplishments.

As a result of The Theocracy Wars of the last 20-plus years this country facing $126 a barrel oil, a faltering economy and overwhelmingly unpopular war that is squandering our human and financial resources.

That's why people are registering in record numbers to vote in Democratic primaries (the small number of Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" bloviating bitter-enders notwithstanding.) There's far more at stake here than Jeremiah Wright's Rants.

The Punditocracy has gotten it wrong at virtually every step along the way, so it should come as no surprise that it could be heading down that road again -- as Mark Leibovich crisply spells out. The at-times infuriating tactics of Hillary Clinton have served as a dress rehearsal for the "Swift Boat Times Five" campaign being planned by McCain.

As GOP lobbyist Ed Rogers said to Leibovich about the Clinton effort:

“Yeh, like we couldn’t have thought of that.”

Last but not least is the basic observation, as spelled out by Frank Rich, that it simply is not 2004 or 1988 any more. Mike Dukakis and John Kerry are not walking through that door. A politician trained in the rough and tumble of Chicago is, a man who has tasted defeat sown from too-early ambition.

So sorry Joan, the change Obama is speaking about is coming, led by Americans tired of the fiascoes of the last 20 years of hyper-partisan battles involving Clintons and Bushes. He's been smart enough to tap into it.

Don't be bitter.

Friday news dump

2008-05-10T09:28:00.002-04:00

There's a theory in public relations that the best way to minimize coverage of bad news is to dump it late on a Friday afternoon. Fewer reporters may be paying attention and smaller, less well-read Saturday papers make it less likely that people will notice.

The most glaring example I was involved with came in 1986, when Republican gubernatorial candidate Royall Switzler decided to take a sleepy Friday afternoon in June to call a news conference and tell the world he had kited his resume, claiming he was a captain in the Green Berets. Memory fails on some of the details, except that I was pretty close to alone in that large Parker House room.

Nevertheless, with a couple of weeks, Switzler was out of the race. The Friday afternoon news dump couldn't have his fatally flawed candidacy.

Which brings us to yesterday's double-barreled news dump: the announcement that Richard Vitale has registered as a lobbyist at about the same time as his financial planning client Sal DiMasi paid off a $250,000 third mortgage line of credit tendered by Vitale.

The timing of course was crucial: politicians can't accept anything of value from lobbyists. Even close personal friends who offer "strategic advice" to groups with business before the Legislature.

While the facts speak for themselves, there are a couple of points worth noting:

Vitale now employs the services of both George Regan and Richard Egbert, Regan handles clients such as former Providence Mayor and convicted felon Buddy Cianci. Egbert also represented Cianci and DiMasi's predecessor, Tom Finneran;

Secretary of State Bill Galvin, whose job includes overseeing lobbying activities, doesn't seem terribly impressed by the defense mounted to date by Messrs. Regan and Egbert;

Vitale's connection to some of the other DiMasi troubles -- notably as the brother of the slain police officer in whose memory a golf tournament is held and which has as a prime sponsor a company promoted by Vitale and which received a questionable state contract -- are not easily explained (as this sentence proves!)

I have a running debate with a colleague about the effectiveness of the Friday news dump. She thinks people do notice. She wins this round hands down.

Sympathy for the devil

2008-05-09T05:39:00.003-04:00

Want to know why the Massachusetts Republican Party is starting to resemble a dinosaur? How about legislation aimed at helping to sell more cigarettes?

A Republican-sponsored amendment stuck inside the Massachusetts Senate's corporate tax reform law would eliminate a minimum pricing law tacked on in 1945. Opponents say it would negate the cost of the $1 per pack planned cigarette tax increase and keep prices on a par with butts sold in New Hampshire.

Helping the convenience stores along the border? That's their story and they're sticking to it.

The Herald explains:

The pricing law now dictates that a pack of Marlboros, for example, cannot be sold in the Bay State for less than $4.97 - or a store owner faces a $500 fine. If minimum pricing is flicked away, prices could mirror New Hampshire, where the same pack sells for about $3.75, and no rules or fines apply.

Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei says his idea is simply to "end corporate welfare" by repealing an archaic rule that helped tobacco companies. He doesn't think it will do much of anything because said federal anti-trust and predatory pricing laws prevent retailers from selling cigarettes below cost.

Not so, says Kevin O’Flaherty, director of advocacy for the Northeast Region’s Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, who says young potential smokers are the ones most sensitive to pricing.

“(The) amendment actually benefits the tobacco companies - not public health.”

So, does the GOP strategy to attract new voters include luring young voters by making smoking more attractive? It would certainly compensate for the loss the party has seen from supporters dying from lung cancer.

We know where this idea should go during conference. But if you stuff paper down those skinny smoking troughs will it fit -- and will it catch fire when the ashes hit?

Strange day in Packard's Corner

2008-05-08T19:18:00.002-04:00

Everything seemed pretty normal on Comm. Ave. tonight as a strolled up to a sub shop to grab a sandwich while Mrs. OL was working late. The only thing that seemed unusual was the street cleaner making endless passes on a street that is usually neglected.

That and the six TV satellite trucks parked on the median to the service road and across the way in front of Comm. Ave Associates. At least there wasn't an SUV still in the window.

It appears Timothy Newton is about to become a three-time loser. The 38-year-old trick driver is a good bet to lose his job -- and his license -- for playing bumper cars in Packard's Corner this morning. Fortunately, I missed most of it -- even if I was getting on a Green Line train in Packard's Corner around 7:15.

We made it all the way to Babcock Street, one stop, when, in typical T fashion, the operator says simply, "this train will be standing by. Take the 57 bus across the street." He mumbled something about an accident.

With the kind of focus you get when you are trying to make a tight deadline and the T breaks down, I didn't notice a thing as I started walking down Comm. Ave. Imagine my surprise when I came home tonight and saw a piece of the fence missing. I know I couldn't miss a pickup truck on the tracks.

Anyway, I kept walking while turning to look for a bus. I saw a lot of black smoke -- must be at Harvard and Brighton Ave. or Union Square, I thought. Besides, I now saw a trio of buses approaching. All of them full to the gills. None of them stopping.

Head down, marching ahead, trying to get to work on time. What was the noise? Oh well, keep on movin'.

A quick call to Mrs. OL informs me about the havoc Mr. Newton is alleged to have caused. I'm in a state of disbelief. I'm a former reporter, trained to be observant. I sure as heck noticed the fire engines and ambulances screaming up the street -- even noting two fire vehicles cam from as far away as Ruggles and Huntington.

About the only thing I can assume is I wasn't telling time too well -- annoyed at being tossed off the Green Line without an adequate explanation, seeing full buses pass by and certain I would need to dodge raindrops all the way to the office.

Catching up on the coverage at work, a few other thoughts hit. Covering news is a lot like making laws and sausages. It ain't pretty. Traffic helicopters where the pilot/reporters don't know the street names, saying the mess was at Comm. Ave. and Harvard Ave. Obviously that guy never went to BU.

Those kinds of running mistakes -- natural on breaking news -- used to be hidden from the public. Now all your mistakes are there for everyone to see and judge. Most won't care, but it still doesn't look good.

By tonight, there was nothing to see -- except for the satellite trucks. I always knew that intersection was a disaster waiting to happen, a dangerous mix of cars and trolleys and drivers who pay no attention to lights and traffic laws.

I always thought a car would drive up onto the trolley right of way and smash into a train or into people. The traffic light at the stop is long gone. Traffic Department must have gotten tired constantly replacing it after it got regularly knocked over. Let's try again, shall we?

A few key questions too: how in the heck could Newton play bumper cars for two blocks? How in the heck could he get a job driving a truck with hazardous materials? How could I have been so lucky to miss it, by a whisker.

Strange day indeed. Happy to be inside and away from the insanity.

Give it up!

2008-05-08T05:41:00.004-04:00

Just when you think Deval Patrick may have turned a corner and figured out how not to run his administration into the ground, he comes up with a doozy.

Patrick told the Brookline Chamber of Commerce that ideas killed in one legislative session can often resurface in another -- pointing to casino gambling as an example.

That is true. But a word to the wise, don't be the source of the legislation.

The depth of opposition to the idea goes beyond the arms that may or may not have been twisted by Speaker Sal DiMasi. Whether DiMasi is around next session or not, there remains a deep reservoir of hostility to the idea on Beacon Hill among people who aren't going anywhere.

And if you do insist on bringing the proposal back next year, it's imperative you do a much better job of public education -- and support-building.

Taxing my patience

2008-05-07T05:33:00.005-04:00

I don't get it.

Voters in one town vote a $6.2 million tax increase and the Globe gives it a full story. The Massachusetts Senate follows the House's lead and passes a nearly $500 million plan raising cigarette taxes and closing corporate tax loopholes and it gets buried at the bottom of a briefs package.

One tax increase affecting one town is more significant?

Editors would probably argue that this is something voters did and it's final -- the House and Senate still have to work out their differences. We'll run it when it really over.

Maybe, but that works only if the Boston papers have been providing detailed coverage -- either in print or on the web -- about the nitty-gritty stuff on Beacon Hill. Have I missed that?

I've enjoyed the travails of Sal and Deval as much as the next guy (although I think the Truth Squad has better things to do than check on the veracity of a 12-year-old campaign contribution Deval may or may not have written to Barack Obama).

But the Paper of Record virtually ignored the House's approval of a $28 billion spending plan while focusing on Sal's questionable legislative decisions and the words of his supporters.

Yes, the budget was crafted largely behind closed doors and out of view of reporters -- and the public. All the more reason for a story, maybe even putting it in the context of doing the people's business while focusing more heavily on internal battles.

Once again, the editors would probably respond that they'll cover the budget when Patrick signs it.

By then it will be too late to know the details -- good and bad -- of what's in the budget or the tax package.

There's something seriously wrong when Metro is outreported by the editorial page.

UPDATE: It's even more appalling when the paper of record is outdone by the Statehouse News Service, which discovers a late-night $189 million raid on the rainy day fund (subscription required) approved about the same time as the Jennifer Callahan controversy is heating up.

Deja vu all over again

2008-05-07T05:13:00.002-04:00

These Tuesdays are starting to get boring.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are offering up the National Democratic Beat Your Brains Out Tour, careening from state to state, trading charges and jabs and victories. Not a pretty sight.

Obama should have quelled a lot of his recent, new found critics with a resounding 56-42 victory over Clinton in North Carolina, while holding her to 51-49 in Indiana. Time and delegates are getting short and the Obama performances should put to rest concerns about his electability after the Jeremiah Wright debacle.

And simply put, Hillary lost her own spin expectations game -- badly:

Although she managed to squeeze out a victory in Indiana, the night produced a far different outcome than the Clinton campaign had hoped for. In the closing hours of the campaigns in the two states, her advisers expressed confidence that she was gaining ground on Obama in North Carolina rapidly enough to hold his anticipated victory margin to single digits. They also thought she was positioned for a solid victory in Indiana.

It's time for the Democratic Party's grown-ups to step in.

Clinton has ever right to battle on. But it is becoming increasingly clear she can't prevail without tearing down Obama and taking the party with it.

Her focus is on Florida and Michigan -- two states that broke Democratic Party rules and voted earlier than the party requested. Might seem unfair to penalize folks, but the parties make their own rules and the courts have been loath to touch them.

Obama played by the rules. He avoided campaigning in both states. And in Michigan, his name didn't even appear on the ballot.

It's that last point that is the most important. How can it be a fair fight if the contestants didn't play by the same rules? Clinton argues voters in those states were disenfranchised. Maybe. But the real injustice is Obama supporters weren't even given a chance to play the game because their guy agreed to the spirit and letter of the rules.

The party's delegate apportionment system is a wonk's dream and has become a nightmare. But even under these circumstances, it works. Obama has built a slim but solid and seemingly insurmountable lead by playing within the rules.

It's time for the superdelegates to declare victory and go home. Let Obama get started on dealing with the GOP Fear and Smear Machine. More states than ever before have had a chance to weigh in this year. You won't be disenfranchising them any more than the folks in Florida and Michigan -- especially Obama backers.

And you won't be giving John McCain a head start -- and ammunition.

The heat is on

2008-05-06T05:20:00.003-04:00

Soaring gasoline prices are giving Smilin' Dan Grabauskas a chance of a lifetime. Let's hope he's up to the task.

It's now official: MBTA ridership is up 6.2 percent since the first of the year. Soaring fuel prices and scarce and expensive parking have combined to push people on buses and subways like never before.

Well, some buses. Yes, the T has an obligation to serve communities that otherwise might be isolated. And they actually appear to be trying to keep better track of where buses actually are.

But here's a quick suggestion: put them where people are. Buses that carry an average of seven passengers or less per ride don't need to run as frequently as the sardine cans that actually handle paying customers.

Fair warning to folks in Medford and Somerville: be careful what you wish for.

Listen to the people

2008-05-05T05:30:00.002-04:00

Let's start with a basic fact: the pundits have been wrong on virtually everything this campaign season. Otherwise we would be looking at a Fred Thompson-Hillary Clinton showdown in November.

There is no question that the furor over Jeremiah Wright has slowed Barack Obama's march to the Democratic nomination. And there's also no question that a certain percentage of the American population would never vote for him -- or Clinton -- based in their race or gender.

But the latest CBS News-New York Times poll suggest the American public has a better handle on the importance of this election than the bloviating heads that fill our television screens.

Let's repeat: Milk and gasoline are both in the $4 a gallon range. The economy, try as George Bush might to downplay it is, as his father would say, in deep doo-doo. People are losing their jobs and their homes.

Soldiers are still dying in Iraq and W and Darth Cheney are still making noise about starting another war with Iran before they head out of town. If they leave. We continue to squander human and financial resources in the Middle East for a cause that few, save John McCain and Joe Lieberman believe in.

Young voters are registering by the thousands in state after state -- and they are signing up as Democrats.

Yes, this is a party that has an amazing ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And Clinton's focus on softening up Obama has left a bad taste in many people's mouths.

But whether it is Clinton or Obama, one thing is clear. The American public has a clear focus -- 81 percent say the country is on the wrong track. Barack Obama is not Michael Dukakis or John Kerry, ready to be Swift boated over a flag pin. Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee are two sides of the same coin about the improper intrusion of religious zealotry.

So chill out Tim, George, Keith and Sean and listen to the people and not yourselves. For a change.

Phew!

2008-05-05T05:20:00.002-04:00

The Cleveland Indians hat goes away for the next two weeks.

No Cleveland sport paraphernalia until the Celtics and the Cavaliers finish their business. Don't want anyone to mistake where the loyalties are here.

The Green survived a series that should never have been as tough as it turned out to be. Call it a character builder. Or a playoff challenge for a team that doesn't have a whole lot of playoff experience as a unit. Or a team that didn't face a lot of challenges all year.

It remains mystifying how the Celtics could utterly dominate at home -- and produce their worst road performance and defensive effort of the year -- in the span of seven games.

No matter. Call it a win and on to Cleveland.

Transfering the blame

2008-05-04T09:37:00.005-04:00

If only Smilin' Dan Grabauskas was as good at running the MBTA as coming up with excuses as why the system is a mess.

That's the major conclusion I draw from the MBTA general manager's recent emergence from his underground bunker to deal with the local media. The most recent -- and best -- examination of the state of public transportation can be found in this week's Phoenix.

In a series of stories that range from subway art and Green Line Gropers to dealing with leaky tunnels and hungry unions, the most intriguing piece is Adam Reilly's suggestion that Smilin' Dan is probably best positioned to fix problems not of his own making.

(A side comment: I prepared for this item by spending yesterday getting squeezed by too few toll collection machines at Copley while marveling at the small army of machines at Porter and Davis; walking needlessly out of my way because no one bothered to post a sign in Harvard Station that the 66 bus stop had been moved; and generally figuring out work-arounds to get home while not getting crushed by inadequate service in Red Sox Green Line traffic -- one of the few sure-fire revenue generators the T has.)

I've amply chronicled the failings of our public transit system -- where construction and bus and trolley schedules both fall behind with frightening regularity. Yet I never cease to be amazed at how the general manager stays in place. Lack of responsibility goes straight to the top, I guess.

Reilly is correct in noting some of the T's problems are not of Grabauskas' making: the debt dumped on the system by the Legislature without, as it turns out, adequate resources to deal with it, is the most glaring example. And the system did not degenerate to one of poor equipment and surly employees only on his watch.

But unlike Reilly, I am unwilling to give Grabauskas a pass on an overpriced toll collection system that acts as a choke point whether in stations or on cars and trolleys. Nor am I willing to say "huzzah" because he copped to what everyone knows -- that the system would regularly skip runs to achieve the appearance of "operating on or near schedule."

The inability to produce a new Kenmore Station in a reasonable period of time -- while embarking on massive, albeit ADA-required overhauls of Copley and Arlington -- is also on his head. (And who is the joker who included swimming to the list banned activities in the Kenmore busway?)

I strain to find the roving "service ambassadors" promised when the fare system freed toll collectors from their booths. Mostly I see them inside their new Charlie-covered shelters.

Reilly is the first to make clear why Grabauskas hangs on -- two years left on a contract. And implicit in his persistence is the suggestion that no one else can handle the tough job.

Is that why Massachusetts used to export people to handle far tougher urban transit systems?

It's possible that Deval Patrick and Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen have bigger transportation headaches -- like the Big Dig and crumbling roads and bridges -- to afford to be able to shift their focus. And the $2 billion price tag on improvements is daunting when we can't pay for what we already have.

But with gasoline prices in the stratosphere and heading higher, more and more people are shifting to the T -- and discovering what's not to like about a system that leaks water and fares with equal regularity.

In the meantime, why not an incentive system for Smilin' Dan -- tie his $255,000 salary to the ability to make the trains and buses run on time, with room for all and personnel who treat the paying public as customers and not annoyances.

And make him ride the system every day.

He'd probably be paying us a weekly stipend pretty quickly.

House afire

2008-05-03T07:23:00.007-04:00

Wow, wasn't it just last month that Deval Patrick was finished and the Celtics were a mortal lock on No. 17? Today, the C's and House Speaker Sal DiMasi both stand on the precipice of elimination. And I like KG's chances a lot better than Sal's.

The House wrapped what has to be one of their most turbulent weeks in its history by passing a budget $210 million richer than when it started while watching leadership machinations result in one lawmaker taking to the microphone to say she was threatened by a colleague unless she voted the “right” way.

The accusations by Sutton Democrat Jennifer Callahan was simply the jimmies on top of the sundae for Beacon Hill watchers who observed the re-emergence of the battle to replace the speaker who said he isn’t leaving,

Of course, reports that he has continued to favor friends with political goodies – resulting in calls for investigations by the Secretary of State’s office, the Ethics Commission and the Attorney General – can tend to change the dynamic quickly,

It was only last Sunday that the Globe reported on DiMasi friend Richard Vitale’s involvement in changing a bill that started out as a pro-consumer anti-scalping measure into something favoring Ace Ticket – who of course denied hiring Vitale as a lobbyist because DiMasi’s personal friend and accountant isn't registered as one.

And that may be to avoid having DiMasi disclose that Vitale helped the Speaker obtain a $250,000 third mortgage on his North End condo.

Then the Globe weighs in midweek with the story of DiMasi friend Jay Cashman cashing in on the battle over a wind farm in Buzzards Bay, involving land Cashman owned.

That led to the sight of liberals Byron Rushing, Frank Smizik and Dan Bosley defending DiMasi publicly while conservative John Rogers took his long knives out of storage in his quest to take the chair that DiMasi snuck out from under him when Tom Finneran departed under a cloud.

And while House Ways and Means Chairman Robert DeLeo was supposed to be minding the store on the budget up for ”debate” this week (mostly behind closed doors), he was engaging Rogers, through surrogates, all the while denying it.

That set the stage for Callahan to stride to the microphone Friday to recount a conversation from the previous day in which a male representative approached her and started a casual chat about a health care amendment she had discussed earlier in the week.

The tone quickly changed, she said, as he said, "I've been in this building a long time" and added, "I could really hurt you if I wanted to." She did not publicly identify the lawmaker.

The comment itself is probably not shocking -- as long as it was uttered in a political context. Politics ain't, as the expression goes, beanbag. And this internal fight is nasty.

But the wounds created by the earlier DiMasi-Rogers succession fight have not healed. Many in the Old Guard are still unhappy that DiMasi elevated liberals like Rushing and Smizik from the back benches -- and stuck Tom Petrolati in between himself and Rogers.

With the drips involving DiMasi becoming a torrent, it's payback time.

But the budget remains a key part of this scenario. Adding $210 million in spending during tight times, after passing a corporate tax increase isn't a good move -- particularly in a year when voters are likely to face a ballot question eliminating the income tax.

The budget is DeLeo's baby -- lock, stock and barrel. It was bad enough that most of the discussions on how to spend the people's money went on in a room that is off-limits to press and public. It's even worse when it appears DeLeo's attention was elsewhere.

Add it all up and you have a House divided and not focusing on the people's business. Not a strong leadership argument.

Meanwhile, Patrick spent the week tending to and mending fences around the state. DiMasi's travails tend to show how trivial his gaffes were in comparison -- and suggestions that DiMasi really runs the state have faded into the background.

For this week.

Next week the attention will finally shift to the Senate, where Therese Murray has been working quietly behind the scenes as Sal squares off against Deval and John. First up is the corporate tax increase bill, followed by the budget before Memorial Day.

Maybe after that we will be talking about how Terry Murray is really running the state. And how Sal is looking for a good landing zone.

And I do believe we will still be talking about KG, Ray, Paul, Rajon, Perk and their quest for No. 17.

No. 2 -- and slipping

2008-05-02T05:20:00.005-04:00

What do the Massachusetts Republican Party and the Boston Herald have in common?

Well aside for a common ideology and a penchant to march in lockstep editorially, the ability to come up a day late a dollar short.

Take the state's shrinking GOP. Please. Despite some tailor-made opportunities to build from the ground up, running against a "do-nothing" Legislaure headed by an increasingly controversial Speaker, the Tired Old Party managed to find only 58 people willing to run for 200 legislative seats.

Half of the state's Democratic congressional seats are going unchallenged, including the Fifth, where Niki Tsongas did anything but coast in a special election. Her challenger in that race, Jim Ogonowski, opted to join a crowded field of sacrificial lamb challengers to John Kerry who, if he is going to lose to anyone, will probably fall to his Democratic opponents.

The Globe's Matt Viser points out the obvious obstacles:

Democrats, for example, are backed by entrenched interests such as labor and teacher unions. The state's large and small cities remain heavily Democratic, while rural and suburban communities, more likely to have Republicans and independents, are still catching up in terms of population and clout.

He politely avoids the, er, elephant in the room, that this now is the party of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Iraq and the loss of civil liberties, making it an extremely tough sell in a state that gave rise to Republicans like Frank Sargent, Frank Hatch and Ed Brooke (see Republicans can have good relationships with journalists!)

Or the damage done to the state GOP by "Hit and Run" Myth.

Governor Mitt Romney vowed to be a party builder as he campaigned in 2002. And in 2004, during the midterm elections, he recruited a field to contest 121 seats in the Legislature, the biggest crop in years. Despite the high number of candidates, the party lost three legislative seats.

Then Romney launched a bid for president. "From now on, it's me, me, me," he told the Globe's editorial board after the 2004 elections.

"Whatever party building [Romney] did was to enhance his own stature," said Maurice Cunningham, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. "When that was done, he left, and I think he left the Republican Party in bad shape."

The base is busted, the national party is an albatross and GOP leaders claim they are focusing on those areas where they have the best chance of success. Sounds like the same game plan they've had for at least 20 years.

All of which helps explain the messes that the various House Democratic speakers have found themselves in, including today ongoing problems being faced by Sal DiMasi.

With no other party acting as a check, it falls to the media. Like the Incredibly Shrinking Boston Globe and the Ever Disappearing Boston Herald.

The Globe has done a far better job, for the most part, in unearthing DiMasi's activities. The Herald has been sharper, especially of late, in following the efforts at a palace coup.

The GOP has called for investigations.

But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures -- like today's Herald story, saying the House Ways and Means Committee, under the direction Robert DeLeo, one of the seekers of DiMasi's crown, is changing bills to help Sal's friends.

Sorry, but where is the smoking gun? The committee's job is the review every bill, line by line and frequently rewrite them from scratch. Where's the evidence that actions favorable to Sal's Pals were changed as a result of direct intervention by DiMasi and/or DeLeo?

And why would DeLeo help DiMasi if he wants his job? Create a scandalous situation where it would be discovered DiMasi helped his friends so the Speaker would be embarrassed and resign or get indicted? It's a stretch and where's the proof?

So we are left with a situation where the No.2's -- the GOP and the Herald -- swing wildly and miss, appealing only to their true believers and watch as their own base dies or walks away.

It is sad, because competition is necessary -- in politics and the media -- to keep the other side fresh and honest.