Posted on 01/19/2007 12:55:47 AM PST by raccoonradio
A former state rep with a dodgy past is back in the news, with “unhappy customers” calling the local cops and the district attorney’s office - stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
This time it’s a one-term boob named Mark Howland, a retired trout farmer who was elected in 2002 after his opponent, an ex-con named Jailbird George Rogers, was ensnared in a probe involving gay pornography (450 videos) and a male teenager whom he was, ahem, advising.
Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. The only difference between the Rogers scandal and so many others in Massachusetts is that Jailbird George was not re-elected. But Howland lasted only two years and is now in the windmill business.
Apparently this new operation is as fishy as the trout farm. It seems, according to the local newspapers, Howland takes the money and then, well, when the phone don’t ring, you’ll know it’s him.
A call was placed yesterday to Howland’s home, and his phone message said it was “WindTech Co.” I asked Howland whether, given the current flurry of probes about him, he was perhaps planning to apply for a job as a talk-show host at my radio station, WRKO. The call was not returned.
According to newspaper stories from last year, Howland was selling the windmills to, say, dairy farmers. Investing thousands in a windmill pays off it you can cut your electric bill by 80 percent.
Some people got the windmills they paid for, and others - well, he is a former state rep, after all. Caveat emptor. The good news is, he’s probably not going to prison. Maybe he’s just gotten a little behind. So it looks like more of a job for the bunco squad than the FBI.
Here are some testimonials from less-than-satisfied customers who spoke to the New Bedford paper:
“I have lost total respect for the man.”
“He led us down the wrong path from day one.”
“One person has given him as much as $48,000, and (the solon) has given him nothing.”
Is it possible for us to go one week - just seven days - without a state rep in trouble with the law? Two weeks ago, it was Felon Finneran. Last week, it was Rep. Paul “I have a disease” Kujawski, fined basically for stealing money from his own campaign account.
And now this Howland character. Too bad Felon Finneran hasn’t started working yet. I’m sure he’d like to go on the radio on behalf of this “good man” (as the Felon once described Kujawski).
Howland’s wife, Bonnie, is technically the president of WindTech, and she, too, has an impeccable resume for the windmill racket. She used to run an astrology Web site, where for $15 she would chart “Your Sexy and Naughty Natal Report - what do the stars say about your sexual preferences?”
Bonnie is Rep. Windmill’s second wife. The first Mrs. Windmill divorced him after, as the divorce papers put it, “He left his wife a threatening note when they separated.”
Some of the unhappy WindTech customers would be happy even with a threatening note. The owner of one dairy farm in South Westport wrote the Freetown Democrat a check for $32,000 last September, and that was the last he saw of the guy.
In a story in this newspaper last August, Howland said the windmills were “selling like hotcakes.” Invisible hotcakes, apparently. Like Howland himself, now you see ’em, now you don’t.
Finneran, Kujawski, now Dr. Howland, and the new year is only 19 days old. The faster you knock these state reps down, the faster they pop up, like ducks in a shooting gallery. How many sleazy new talk-show hosts can local radio absorb?
And warming up in the bullpen is none other than Billy Bulger. Come on down, Corrupt Midget. No need to bring a reference letter, a target letter will suffice. If you’re indicted, you’re invited.
The politicians like to call themselves public servants. I find the term nauseating.
They are into politics only for their own egos and pocketbooks.
The really good citizens rarely make it to office.
And even though the vast majority of Americans think that Congress is filled with lazy, self-important and dishonest men and women, they will all tell you, "Not MY representative!" Yeah, right...
Mark Foley redux.
right, and I think Rogers got a slap on the wrist, IF that.
Tagline of the MA pol...
Are you sure this isn't the McNerney bozo that was just elected to Congress from Central California?
...a sound effect that hasn't been heard on Howie's show since
DePetro got fired...
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