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Sun 25 Feb, 2007 09:13 am
PR woes follow Gov to D.C.: Patrick takes posse, new Caddy to Washington
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Gov. Deval Patrick is ignoring his critics and putting his new Cadillac and his wife's $72,000-a-year secretary to work this weekend - in Washington, D.C.
But Patrick aides and state police insist there is nothing unusual about a state trooper driving the governor's car to the capital for a National Governors Association (NGA) meeting or inviting wife Diane Patrick's chief of staff, Amy Gorin, along for the ride.
"The winter meeting of the nonpartisan National Governors Association is official state business, and all recent Massachusetts governors have participated in similar meetings," Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan said in a written response to a Herald inquiry.
Patrick, whose campaign image as a bold reformer took hits after he leased a Cadillac for his official car and spent more than $27,000 to outfit his office, arrived at the conference Friday. His wife, Gorin, a state police security detail, Chief of Staff Joan Wallace-Benjamin and one of her deputies, Brendan Ryan, also are attending, Sullivan said.
State police drove Patrick's Cadillac DTS sedan to meet him at the conference, said Lt. Eric Anderson. Patrick recently pledged to pay out-of-pocket for half the $1,166 monthly payment for the car, which is more luxurious than cars used by previous governors. He is also footing the bill for the new office furnishings.
"The governor's security detail is the same as it has been every year," said Anderson. "Nothing has changed since 2001."
Patrick, who is a member of the NGA Health and Human Services Committee, was scheduled to meet yesterday with U.S. Health and Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Tonight, President Bush and the first lady host a dinner for the governors association. Tomorrow, Patrick is scheduled to speak at the AFL-CIO Apollo Summit.
Sullivan said Patrick's entourage, including Wallace-Benjamin and Gorin, have packed schedules for the conference.
Jodi Omear, a spokeswoman for the NGA, said about half of the 11 new governors brought a chief of staff assigned to their spouses to the conference.
"Joan Wallace-Benjamin is attending on Sunday and Monday to take part in meetings with governors' chiefs of staff from around the country," Sullivan said. "Amy Gorin is also attending and will be working with the first lady in developing the initiatives backed by the administration that Mrs. Patrick will be focusing on."
Boston Hearld
Re: Deval Patrick Takes Posse to Washington!
Miller wrote:PR woes follow Gov to D.C.: Patrick takes posse, new Caddy to Washington
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Gov. Deval Patrick is ignoring his critics and putting his new Cadillac and his wife's $72,000-a-year secretary to work this weekend - in Washington, D.C.
But Patrick aides and state police insist there is nothing unusual about a state trooper driving the governor's car to the capital for a National Governors Association (NGA) meeting or inviting wife Diane Patrick's chief of staff, Amy Gorin, along for the ride.
"The winter meeting of the nonpartisan National Governors Association is official state business, and all recent Massachusetts governors have participated in similar meetings," Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan said in a written response to a Herald inquiry.
Patrick, whose campaign image as a bold reformer took hits after he leased a Cadillac for his official car and spent more than $27,000 to outfit his office, arrived at the conference Friday. His wife, Gorin, a state police security detail, Chief of Staff Joan Wallace-Benjamin and one of her deputies, Brendan Ryan, also are attending, Sullivan said.
State police drove Patrick's Cadillac DTS sedan to meet him at the conference, said Lt. Eric Anderson. Patrick recently pledged to pay out-of-pocket for half the $1,166 monthly payment for the car, which is more luxurious than cars used by previous governors. He is also footing the bill for the new office furnishings.
"The governor's security detail is the same as it has been every year," said Anderson. "Nothing has changed since 2001."
Patrick, who is a member of the NGA Health and Human Services Committee, was scheduled to meet yesterday with U.S. Health and Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Tonight, President Bush and the first lady host a dinner for the governors association. Tomorrow, Patrick is scheduled to speak at the AFL-CIO Apollo Summit.
Sullivan said Patrick's entourage, including Wallace-Benjamin and Gorin, have packed schedules for the conference.
Jodi Omear, a spokeswoman for the NGA, said about half of the 11 new governors brought a chief of staff assigned to their spouses to the conference.
"Joan Wallace-Benjamin is attending on Sunday and Monday to take part in meetings with governors' chiefs of staff from around the country," Sullivan said. "Amy Gorin is also attending and will be working with the first lady in developing the initiatives backed by the administration that Mrs. Patrick will be focusing on."
Boston Hearld
Exactly. The Herald rag is still on the case, I see. Must be there's nothing new on Anna Nicole Smith or Brittany Spears' haircut.
I just don't get it. Our prime minister (and his 10 ministers plus a couple of undersecretaries of state) choose between 28 Audi A6, Audi A8 or BMWs 5 and 7 from the governmental fleet at the state's chancellory. (Ministries have their own fleets.)
For represenative affairs they've a couple big Mercedes' on lease.
Northrhine-Westphalia (my home state), has however, three times the population of Mass and is bit larger - therefore the ploce helicopters are mainly used for the transport of cabinet members and the prime minister.
Okay, back to Anna Nicole Smith and Brittany Spears.
any particular reason you are so focused on Patrick's foibles, Miller?
snood wrote:any particular reason you are so focused on Patrick's foibles, Miller?
They ain't even foibles, snood. The GOP in Taxachusetts can't get used to the fact that a fairly moderate (he's no liberal) black Democrat got elected to the chief executive's office. If he comes to work one morning with a shoelace untied, the Herald reporter on duty will notice and report on the "sloppy" way he's running the state.
Well, in that case we'll read it seconds later.
Just in case: that is NOT about there in today's Herald on page 26!!!
Merry Andrew wrote:snood wrote:any particular reason you are so focused on Patrick's foibles, Miller?
They ain't even foibles, snood. The GOP in Taxachusetts can't get used to the fact that a fairly moderate (he's no liberal) black Democrat got elected to the chief executive's office. If he comes to work one morning with a shoelace untied, the Herald reporter on duty will notice and report on the "sloppy" way he's running the state.
Do you think we should clue them in that the election is over?
Can you imagine the kind of smear-circus acrobatics that we'll be witness
to then, if Obama ever gained the oval office?
snood wrote:Can you imagine the kind of smear-circus acrobatics that we'll be witness
to then, if Obama ever gained the oval office?
I think it's a fairly safe prediction that our next president will be either black or a woman. (Of course, if the Republicans can stage a comeback, it could be a black woman!
)
Merry Andrew wrote:snood wrote:Can you imagine the kind of smear-circus acrobatics that we'll be witness
to then, if Obama ever gained the oval office?
I think it's a fairly safe prediction that our next president will be either black or a woman. (Of course, if the Republicans can stage a comeback, it could be a black woman!
)
What in our history leads you to conclude that's a "fairly safe" prediction?
snood wrote:Merry Andrew wrote:snood wrote:Can you imagine the kind of smear-circus acrobatics that we'll be witness
to then, if Obama ever gained the oval office?
I think it's a fairly safe prediction that our next president will be either black or a woman. (Of course, if the Republicans can stage a comeback, it could be a black woman!
)
What in our history leads you to conclude that's a "fairly safe" prediction?
Not looking at history, snood. Just the current
zeitgeist. History would have predicted that JFK could never gain the presidency.
I don't think that is a safe prediction at all. It's two years before the election, everything is going on name recognition now. As far as I can see, the nominations for both parties are wide open.
Merry Andrew wrote:snood wrote:Can you imagine the kind of smear-circus acrobatics that we'll be witness
to then, if Obama ever gained the oval office?
I think it's a fairly safe prediction that our next president will be either black or a woman. (Of course, if the Republicans can stage a comeback, it could be a black woman!
)
But it wont be someone from the senate.
The last sitting Senator to win the WH was John Kennedy.
Serving Senators dont have a very good track record in the race for the WH.
Yeah, you're both probably right. What seems like a safe bet now, may not pan out a year from now. But if I were buying "futures" (a la commodity futures), I'd rate it a safe investment at this time. (Dump those futures when the market conditions change.)
kelticwizard wrote: As far as I can see, the nominations for both parties are wide open.
You need some new glasses, Dear!
Merry Andrew wrote:
I think it's a fairly safe prediction that our next president will be either black or a woman.
Obama will pull out of the race since his wife is afraid someone will kill him. That leaves the field to Clinton and Mccain and the later will win for sure.
About a year or so before the primaries, wasn't Howard Dean beginning to look unstoppable? He never made it past the first primary.
The trouble with Republicans predicting the nominations is that they are royalists. Either a Bush or a Dole has been on the Republican Presidential ticket each time since 1976. So they are stuck into a "it's all fixed" mindset.
They just can't grasp the concept that somebody can gather support before the primaries and be successful. If you think that Hillary and Obama are all there is to the Democratic field, you are very mistaken.
Miller wrote:
Obama will pull out of the race since his wife is afraid someone will kill him. That leaves the field to Clinton and Mccain and the later will win for sure.
Actually, when asked in a 60 Minutes interview, Michelle Obama said the opposite. She said, "I don't lose sleep over it because the realities are that, as a black man, Barack can get shot going to the gas station.''
Miller wrote:Obama will pull out of the race since his wife is afraid someone will kill him. That leaves the field to Clinton and Mccain and the later will win for sure.
McCain win the Presidency? You wanna bet on that?
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