A Repentant Governor Deval Patrick
After a flurry of media criticism about his high-spending ways and profligacy with the taxpayer’s funds, Governor Deval Patrick issued a mea culpa yesterday during a meeting with reporters at the State House.
As reported by the Boston Globe:
But in apologizing, he also chided the reporters who have hounded him about the spending since the first reports surfaced.
"I think it's very important to me that you in the media help me get the message out about what it is we are concentrating on," Patrick said. "That is what the public needs to know about and what it is we are working on, and unless I get this off your screen, then I don't think we're going to be able to get that done."
Why should anyone be surprised at this statement and at his earlier petulance when reporters questioned his imperial governing style? During his campaign, Patrick was largely given a pass by the major media outlets in Boston. They were too wrapped up in the exultation of electing the state’s first African-American Governor to press him for specifics about the viability of many of his policy proposals such as providing additional police officers and providing property tax relief to cities and towns.
He received no serious scrutiny from the press during his campaign, and as such, understandably, expected none once he was elected Governor.
In politics, perception is reality. And, for the Patrick Administration, the next potential stink on the horizon is legalized gambling. Doug Rubin, a top campaign strategist for Patrick and a lobbyist, is talking to the Wampanoag Indian tribe to represent their interests.
The state is facing a $1billion revenue shortfall, and as anyone who has lived here can tell you, when it comes to balancing the state budget, cutting spending is rarely an option that is ever seriously considered, much less exercised. A continual revenue stream is the life-blood of liberalism. Thus, the eternal quest for additional revenue will begin and what better way to maintain a liberal’s spending plan than to play the casino card?
No need to play the crap tables, you can bet on casino gambling making it’s way to Massachusetts.
Don’t think so? Well, let me say this…if you are a betting man, I wouldn’t place my chips on the prospect of uber liberal Deval Patrick nor the Democratic-controlled legislature cutting spending sufficiently to make up the projected $1billion shortfall.
Beacon Street Journal
Thursday, February 22, 2007
By Johnny K