In my latest for the Guardian, I take a look at Gov. Deval Patrick’s political problems, many of them self-inflicted, that have left him in danger of becoming irrelevant.
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mcough4
Dan,The Governor is never irrelevant. One thing Deval has done is appoint excellent staff to run the Executive Department agencies. compared to the anti-government types that Romney appointed, they are a breath of fresh air, especially in the health and human service agencies. MC
Anonymous
If Dukakis redux is a breath of fresh air, you have a point. Personally, I prefer to have my tax dollars go to causes more worthy than activist judges or petulant prisoners with gender-identity issues. (But that’s just me.)
wellbasically
Basically you left out the economic downturn. If Patrick had a big bag of money from tax receipts I doubt he would have put all his plans on casino gambling. Patrick has an ambitious agenda and a system that is over-promised. The economy is suffering and he has no believable explanation why, or method for fixing it. In such times you can take the measure of a man, but if he scaled back his agenda, or allowed universal health care to collapse, a lot of other people would be howling. The governor of Massachusetts is probably meant to be an outsider. That is why we’ve had all these Republicans. Look at the Patrick election as a continuation of that relationship, a split ticket actually, built-in gridlock that the voters want, and you will have a better picture of what kind of governor he can be.
Anonymous
Mcough4, this governor is hereby irrelevant. I take no joy in this, as I am a progressive Democrat who voted for him. But mark my words.He invested so much in the casinos thing. SO much. Then skipped town because he had a book deal to pursue.He is so done. Just wait. It’s not going to be pretty.We Democrats really, really need to figure out who to run next time. Or else we could be looking at another Republican governor.Let’s plan now.
Peter Porcupine
Mr. Well Basically – I’m sure it was comforting to have a GOP governor. To be able to talk about ‘Romney’s cuts’ or ‘Swift’s cuts’, and what that great, big bad governor did, cuting the wonderful program that YOU voted for. All the while knowing that it’s the governor’s legal responsibility to cut the budget – no matter how porked up it is – due to the balanced budget act.It’s not so much fun when 90% are Democrats, and there’s nobody to blame.I’ve been thinking about this, and I now believe that Deval was naive enough to think that being elected governor meant that he was being elected Top Democrat as well, and that the heads of the legislature would take dictation from him. That was his corporate and judicial experience – hierarchial, not collaborative.It will never work without a major attitude adjustment on his part, and his response to being questioned thus far – be it opponents, supporters, media or advisors – doesn’t indicate that he has that ability to change in him. Oddly, Romney DID – once he assessed the field, he was able to collaborate much more with the Legislature (probably comes of rescuing broken-down institutions…)
Dan Kennedy
PP: Bill Weld was extremely effective at collaborating with the Democratic leadership of the legislature. Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift had some successes, too. Mitt Romney? Eh, not so much.
Peter Porcupine
DK – Cellucci and Swift were Senators, and already KNEW how the system worked. I was likening Romeny and Patrick because BOTH had not held elective office in MA before becoming Governor, and came from similar corporate backgrounds.Weld and Bulger developed a personal relationship. Make of that what you will. :~)