Posted on 03/23/2008 5:39:26 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Howie returns on Monday the 24th. His Sunday column starts us off.
Swift lifeboat: War chest loot keeps pol afloat
By Howie Carr | Sunday, March 23, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Recession? What recession? Jane Swift doesn’t know the meaning of the word, although of course the former acting governor doesn’t know the meaning of a lot of other words either, starting with “work” and “real job.”
But in case you were wondering, everything is just fine and dandy for the 43-year-old failed pol who last won an election on her own 10 years ago. It was the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
Now, thanks to the wonderful campaign finance laws of the commonwealth, even though she hasn’t been in office since 2002, Jane Swift is still living off her campaign funds.
She is living, you’ll pardon the expression, high off the hog.
I got to thinking about Gov. Firing Mood after reading the Herald story on the bloated campaign war chests of people who run unopposed, or very close to it. So I decided to check out her funds, all these years after she retired due to ill health. The voters got sick of her.
As of Dec. 31, Swifty still had on hand $231,697.43.
For the calendar year 2007, according to the records she filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, she spent $65,387.93. All on campaign-related expenditures, of course. That’s not bad, considering you’d have to earn upwards of $120,000 before taxes to have that kind of walking-around money.
But then, she did so much for the commonwealth. Think babysitters, State Police helicopter rides home for Thanksgiving, a $3 billion deficit, pervert-coddling Judge Richard Moses and Big Dig boss Fat Matt Amorello. Seldom has so much damage been done in so few days.
Now it’s 2008 and the bad news for Swifty is that her “total receipts” were less than $10,000, $7,431.97 of which came from interest in her Fidelity accounts. So she’s about four years away from a Bear Stearns-type bust-out. Never fear, though. Jane is taking a flyer on the future. On Jan. 28, she invested a grand in “Straight Talk America,” John McCain’s campaign. As has been noted, she’s also had a thing for older men.
Of course, she doesn’t spend this money on herself. One of her recurring expenses is “gifts for supporters.” She does a lot of shopping for gifts at Nejaime’s Wine and Liquors in Lenox. She dropped $66.95 at the packy on Jan. 29, and just before last Christmas she spent another $382.20 on Nejaime’s on, you guessed it, “gifts for supporters.”
And what do supporters do? They go to “political meetings.” Swifty, perhaps preparing for some campaign, spent $76.25 on just such a confab at Sal’s Pizza in Lawrence on Feb. 1. Hey Jane, hold the anchovies on mine!
When she showed up at Sal’s, I’m sure Swifty was sporting a nice tan, because according to the reports, she’d just returned from Florida, that sunny place for shady people.
On Jan. 25, she dropped $394.05 at the Colony Hotel in Longboat Key, Fla. Then it was off to West Palm Beach, where she stayed at the less-posh Hilton Garden Inn. Tab: $199.59. I see a charge on Jan. 31 of $229.72 to Hotels.com - I suspect we’ll be seeing more of those as the years go by.
Oh, by the way, she got picked up on Jan. 28 by Norm’s Limo Service. I guess husband Chuck was too busy fertilizing the blueberry patches behind the double-wide to make the run down to Bradley.
A call to the Swift Committee in Williamstown was not returned.
When she’s in Boston, she prefers the Onyx Hotel on Portland Street. Her bill there was $257.28 on Feb. 6. She also listed as an expense an “annual event” for supporters at the Taj Boston, which was formerly known as the Ritz Carlton. Another $2,700, which doesn’t go far at the Ritz - but then, how many supporters does Swifty have, now that she’s not handing out judgeships.
Jane deserves her own show on the Travel Channel, the way she gets around. When in Manhattan, she prefers Le Parker Meridien on 57th Street. She ran up an $800 tab there in two days in January.
If you ever go to the OCPF Web site, you’ll see the names of any number of the forgotten-but-not-gone. Those who still file reports include Brad Bailey, Newman Flanagan, Lois Pines, even some guy named Willard Mitt Romney.
There’s an old saying. It’s one thing to feed at the trough. It’s another thing to lick the plate. But that’s what Jane Swift is doing: licking the plate. What else is new?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1082218
“She is living, you’ll pardon the expression, high off the hog.”
LOL, Mr. 800-Large Howie is, pun intended, living high off the hog.
LOL, good line!
Recession? What recession?
Has Jimmy Myers gone completely out of his mind?
It's great to be driving to my relatives on Easter Sunday and happen to have WTKK on the car radio and hear how Mr.Myers is telling'Black America' that "we gotta take things into our own hands" and "there's gonna be violence in the streets,because the (white) man is lynching and crucifying all our black political candidates like Obama and Deval."This guy,over his entire illustrious career ,has always been paranoid,and always thinks race is involved in everything.He is undoubtably the angriest and most jaded broadcaster in this area.All he wants for callers are sycophants who agree with his venomous bigotted views.I noticed that any callers who disagree with him are talked over and insulted and branded as ignorant racists themselves. I remember on the radio many years ago(probably on 850AM before he wore out his welcome as he always does) that the same Jimmy Myers argued that it was impossible for any black man to be a racist.
Obviously Mr. Myers didn't listen to the Rev.Wright talk or even to his own rhetoric on the radio. Why is this guy so hateful and angry ? Last time I checked he has a 'no heavy lifting' job and no matter what venom he spews on the air he always seems to get another job on the radio. Talk about a 'golden parachute'.............. What a country,Jimmy. The rest of us actually have to be accountable for our actions and words at work.
Jimmy Myers is horrible. Other than sounding enthusiastic, some of the rhetoric is unbelievable.
Mon show ping. Howie is back
Man, I wish his podcasts were updated more frequently and included the entire show.
“Man, I wish his podcasts were updated more frequently and included the entire show.”
Ditto, it used to be just the chump line. Now it’s the ocassional chump line, and sometimes more.
"To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure," the Boston Globe reports:
Instead of calling these chools "underperforming," the Board of Education is considering labeling them as "Commonwealth priority," to avoid poisoning teacher and student morale. Schools in the direst straits, now known as "chronically underperforming," would get the more urgent but still vague label of "priority one." . . .At a December meeting on how to improve struggling schools in Holyoke, Lawrence, and Springfield, superintendents implored members not to stick them with a label of "chronically underperforming."
"For our teachers, it's a blow," said Wilfredo Laboy, Lawrence superintendent. "It demoralizes staff completely." Joseph Burke, Springfield superintendent, said that while he is not crazy about any label, he would prefer "priority one," because "It sounds nicer."
Well, at least Massachusetts never disappoints! ;-)
Boy oh boy, it’s Laboy. Wasn’t he the one who couldn’t pass an English proficiency test as superintendent or something?
Censored! Howie said a naughty word on the radio!
“Oh, breaking news-— Justice Dept. has approved the (silence). Oh that’s good...(to producer)
Did you bleep that out? I can’t report the news?”
Went to drudge: Sirius XM Merger Approved.
That’s right folks: WRKO does not want you to hear the news.
(Similarly back when WTKK had Hannity and he had Opie and Anthony on as guests, WTKK
would not carry the hour. Promoting the competition.)
I got an XM radio the other day. Bleep THAT out, Entercommies!
LOL! I had forgotten all about that!
Oh, and thanks for the news that got bleeped!
His webpage isn’t updated that often either...”Now that Romney’s out of the race...” showed up awhile after it
happened.
Hopefully, somebody will ask, um, "axe", Max about what the Comedy Channel was thinking, the way they not only stomped over a first run set of productions, but threw in so many commercials and in house promos, that they absolutely ruined the experience.
No, but when Howie had Billy West (voice of Fry) on awhile back he said Fox ruined Futurama by constantly changing the time slot; tough to find meant ratings suffered and
eventually it got cancelled.
I haven’t watched too much of the show but have seen
some episodes—like the Willy Wonka spoof (slurm!) and
the one where two kids (one reminiscent of Bart
Simpson) start up a delivery business.
The bitterness at Fox is still there. The first new epi beat up on Fox and the executives for the first few minutes, and ground up "executives" were literally sprinkled from a shaker throughout the four epis.
I thought it was overkill on staff's part, myself, but the Comedy Channel didn't do the return any favors. overlaying part of the opening scene that has some trite advertising-like slogan that's part of the appeal of the opening.
Guess I missed Billy West on Howie. Must have been when Entercom was screwing up Howie's syndication.
Tue ping
The world of Commander Hillary McBragg!!!!
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