Posted on 03/08/2007 2:24:32 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
BOSTON - As a candidate, Deval Patrick won over voters with a message of hope and renewed confidence in government. Now, eight turbulent weeks into his term, Massachusetts' first black governor is already pleading: "Don't give up on me."
First, the 50-year-old former chief of the Justice Department's civil rights division under the Clinton administration was criticized for using a state helicopter to zip from one end of the state to the other. Then he found himself defending his decision to upgrade his state car to a $1,166-a-month Cadillac.
Soon came news of pricey new drapes for the governor's office, a $72,000 appointments secretary for his wife and a call to Citigroup on behalf of a struggling lending company on whose board he once served — a move that prompted a call for an ethics investigation by the Republicans.
Patrick loyalists have portrayed the incidents as the kind of missteps made by someone who has never before held elective office. But they also fear that, taken together, the blunders could hurt the Democrat's populist appeal and erode his authority.
When he took office, "the canvas was blank. What we saw was a first portrait of a governor who was stumbling, rather than a governor moving forward," said Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University political science professor. "There's a tone-deafness that continues to hamper the governor."
During his rise, Patrick combined soaring rhetoric — he repeatedly said he wanted people who had checked out of politics "to check back in" — with dramatic imagery, including taking the oath of office with his hand on a Bible that was given to John Quincy Adams by freed slaves from the ship Amistad.
Critics point to his use of a State Police helicopter as his first blunder. Former acting Gov. Jane Swift was heavily criticized for using the helicopter to beat Thanksgiving traffic to her home in the Berkshire Mountains in 1999. Patrick twice used the chopper, once to return to the Statehouse after attending the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq.
The criticism mounted after Patrick upgraded his official car from a Ford Crown Victoria, which was leased for $623 per month, to the Cadillac. He later agreed to reimburse the state the $543 monthly difference, as well as $27,387 for the new furnishings in his office, including the $12,300 drapes. But he defended his decision to hire a staff member to handle scheduling and interview requests for his wife.
Particularly grating to critics was the impression that Patrick was splurging on luxuries even as he was warning of a $1.3 billion deficit and asking state agencies to trim spending.
Perhaps the biggest blunder was Patrick's decision to call Citigroup executive Robert Rubin on Feb. 20 of behalf of ACC Capital Holdings while ACC sought an infusion of cash from Citigroup. Patrick had served on ACC's board but resigned the $360,000-a-year post during the campaign. ACC is the parent of Ameriquest, a mortgage company that has been accused of predatory lending practices.
Patrick initially defended the call, saying he was acting as a private citizen, but then conceded that as governor, the line between his private and official lives had disappeared.
The governor sounded alternately defensive and chastened as the disclosures mounted.
He brushed aside reporters' questions about the helicopter rides, saying: "You should call that family from Hyannis that lost their son in Iraq and see if they have a problem with me using the helicopter." He quickly added, "I have a really crowded calendar and a very ambitious agenda, so I'm going to use every resource available."
When an Associated Press reporter pressed him on the Cadillac, he first said: "You should take a ride in it. It's nice." Later, in an attempt to get beyond the criticism of the car, the drapes and his wife's assistant, he conceded "we really screwed up," and said he needed the media to move on to more important issues.
And this week, after the phone call story broke, he said: "I will make mistakes, but don't give up on me, because I don't intend to give up on Massachusetts."
The miscues are testing the faith of Patrick's most ardent backers.
"I'm amazed and appalled that Patrick didn't just say, `Sorry, I can't make that call. I'm governor now,'" Charley Blandy, co-founder of Blue Mass. Group, a leading liberal blog that supported Patrick during the campaign, wrote this week. "The Caddy didn't matter. The drapes don't matter. This matters."
Did he think this was gonna have on the job training?????
I just want ONE WEEK where he doesn't pork the pooch on SOMEthing.
BUT
"I will make mistakes, but don't give up on me, because I don't intend to give up on Massachusetts."
He'll be allowed to keep trying until he gets it right.
Right, meaning; He needs a little more time around uncle Ted and that wayward child, Kerry.
You'll get your car and the drapes and your wife's job/money ... just be patient ... we'll show you how it's done.
An affirmitive action HACK! What a joke!
Just doing his darndest to help "working families", I'm sure...
This is exactly why you can't elect a SENATOR or Congressman or someone who has no experience in running anything to HUGH office!!
I'm shocked! Shocked!!! (sarcasm off)
"I've liked his persona throughout the campaign," Lindsey Peterson, 25, said as she left a polling place in Somerville's Davis Square.
People didn't vote on issues and those people should not be allowed to vote.
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