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Howie column ping

Hack’s rants one train wreck after the next
By Howie Carr | Friday, February 15, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

How many more times do people have to be told: “Never write when you can speak. Never speak when you can nod. Never nod when you can wink.”

And never, ever send a series of easily traceable e-mails full of anti-gay slurs to a gay member of the Deval Patrick administration (even if he’s a gay Republican holdover from earlier GOP administrations).

The hack du jour is one Mark Roberts, who is now, but probably will not be much longer, a $49,000-a-year paralegal at the state Department of Correction. He is the author of the scurrilous e-mails in question, and it was certainly a rotten thing to do, especially to the gay Republican, MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas.

After all, Grabauskas did a fine job turning around the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and has done as much as possible (which is apparently not that much) at the MBTA.

This Roberts, who makes $26.30 an hour (we learn this in his Jan. 10 e-mail from a DOC address), is a typical T commuter. He is mad as hell and he is not going to take it anymore. But he made a major error:

Thinking that somebody at the MBTA would give a bleep (to use one of Roberts’ favorite words) about his complaints.

Here’s an early Roberts missive that caught the attention of the honchos at 10 Park.

“The evening Fram/Worc trains are late getting to Grafton at least 60% of the time.”

Sixty percent, you say? You know what the T would call that - an improvement!

Here’s his complaint about a winter wonderland:

“At 4:45 while trying to get to South Station - I could hardly get thru the mounds of snow piled up on Atlantic & Essex Streets to get to the Train Platform.”

But look on the bright side, Roberts. Soon the snow will be gone. Spring is coming. Speaking of which, let’s go to another of his complaints, about boarding the “Worcester Express” (fill in your own joke here) on Track 4, after first being told it was on Track 1:

“After 15 minutes waiting on the train in the dark with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year - we were told the train is out of service - we now have to go to Track 3.”

First he’s complaining about snow, now he’s whining about the heat. There’s no satisfying this guy.

You first begin to realize that Roberts is losing it when he directs the T flunky to “have Mr. Grabuskis (sic) call me at work. My phone # is (617) 727-3300.”

That’s the main DOC number. At this point you can add another line to the “Never write when you can speak” admonition. Never, ever give them your real phone number, especially if you’re writing obscenities to your own employers, on their own e-mail account.

“PLEASE DO NOT INSULT MY INTELEGENCE (sic) by offering me one of your weak unsinsire (sic) apologies.”

He’s a very “intelegent” guy, you see. And the MBTA is “INCOMPANT” because the conductors don’t collect “fairs.” Another addition to the list of do’s and don’ts: “When accusing someone else of being stupid, use Spell Check.”

This, from Nov. 29: “I wish I only had to do half my job like these lazy bastards you have working for you!!”

A state employee, calling other state employees “lazy bastards,” on his state e-mail no less. Whatever happened to professional courtesy? But nobody at the T seemed to care until Roberts brought up Grabauskas’ sexual orientation last month.

Roberts has sent a groveling letter of apology to Grabauskas, without a single misspelling, but it’s probably too late. He’ll be long gone from the state payroll way ahead of Carl Stanley McGee of Florida steam room fame, and McGee was making considerably more than $26.30 an hour.