Posted on 02/01/2009 4:34:47 AM PST by raccoonradio
Howie thread starting with his Sunday Herald column
At this rate, our hacks will sell on eBay
By Howie Carr | Sunday, February 1, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Question: Why did City Councilor Mike Flaherty announce his candidacy for mayor on YouTube?
Answer: Because there is no Web site named YouHack.
So I was watching his recorded announcement, filmed in his kitchen. The words were nonsense, but I couldnt take my eyes off that high-end yuppie KitchenAid mixer on the granite counter behind him. Close to $500, would be my guess.
Then you realize: a year from now, that pricey mixer is going to be on an even fancier granite cabinet - in Duxbury.
Baby Flats has 600 large to blow on this fight. Why doesnt he just give everybody in the city a buck and put his house up for sale?
Tell me where he beats Mumbles. In Southie, of course, and in coastal (read: white) Dorchester, and Charlestown. Thats Wards 6, 7, 16 and 2, which wouldnt be bad, except that the city has 22 wards.
The only issue this year in Boston is rampant corruption and cronyism, and the Flahertys arent part of the solution, theyre part of the problem.
For the record, Baby Flats is not related to convicted felon ex-House speaker Good Time Charlie Flaherty. But Felon Flahertys son, Tim, represents Baby Flats cousin Frannie, who was recently indicted in an alleged MBTA no-show job scam.
Baby Flats father is the former state rep and judge Mike Sr. Before Flats Senior retired to the bench, he was in private practice. Then his cousin Jimmy Flaherty, who was simultaneously on payrolls at the State House and City Hall, was murdered by a hustler in Florida.
Flats Senior handled Jimmys estate for his beloved Aunt Millie. Imagine Millies surprise when she got the bill from her dear nephew and hed charged her his usual billable-hour rate for watching Jimmys adult videos and standing in line at the post office to buy stamps. The joke in Southie was, it was the first time in 40 years Flats hadnt cut in line after yelling, Do you know who I am? Mainly because he was making money waiting his turn.
I dont have room to run down all of the Flahertys on public payrolls. Baby Flats sister Peggy is the South Boston district court clerk, appointed, like her daddy, by a Republican governor.
Maybe Flats Jr. can campaign on a platform on mandatory drug testing for firefighters. First hed better bounce it off his uncle and his cousin, both of whom are longtime loyal members of Local 718.
Flats understands hes the longest of longshots. He wanted to be district attorney even when Dan Conley was on City Council. Thats why, before he voted for Flaherty for City Council president, Conley made him promise he wouldnt run even for district attorney.
Flats would still love to be Mr. District Attorney, but the only way to get rid of Conley would be a judgeship, and appearing in that ad for Kerry Healey in 2006 likely put the kibosh on favors from Deval.
Remember when Felon Finneran got booted from the 400-large-a-year lobbying job at the biotech council? For a while it looked as if Sen. Jack Hart of Southie might get the job? Flats was sniffing around that potentially open seat, too, but it was not to be - kind of like his run for mayor this year.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1149173
but what amazes me most is...How the residents of Mass keep putting the same old foxes in charge of the hen-house....
Are the people that don't reap any benefit from the corruption really that naive/stupid???
Yes
This column is a reprint from a week ago. What happened?
yeah I was thinking that myself as I scanned it, or maybe it’s the start of that column and he threw stuff on at the end. I went thru my Herald rather fast this morning (and left it at the Salem Diner!) and am trying to remember what column he had in it, if any. This was what was on the website. Maybe I’ll check their site and see if another column was done but just not put up there?
yup, saw that...And now: A Monday column! Ping
(PS: your humble raccoonradio guy turns 47 today... :) )
Credible Sal Dimasi uses system to his benefit
By Howie Carr | Monday, February 2, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
How much is Sal DiMasi going to get?
That was the big question last week. The inquiry didnt concern possible prison time, but his about-to-begin monthly kiss in the mail - the state pension.
Speaker Sal hung on into January for one reason - as a solon, one day of service in 2009 bought him an extra year of what is ironically called credible service.
Anyway, Sal now has two ways to go: Option C, which provides for the pension to continue after his death for his trophy second wife Debbie, or Option A, which is more, because the pension would end with his passing.
If DiMasi had quit in 2008, hed have finished with 32 years and 3 months at the public trough. Under Option A hed have gotten $68,800 a year for life. If he went for the survivors benefits, it would have been $57,000.
For hanging in those extra few days, greedy Sal will receive credit for 33 years and 3 months. So Mistah Speakah is now looking at $71,000 under Option A and $59,000 if he cuts Trophy Deb into the jackpot.
By the standards of the Dreaded Private Sector, its an incredibly generous pension, especially considering the dodgy circumstances of his exit. But Salvatores take will merely be average compared with the other extinguished statesmen.
Topping the list, of course, is the Corrupt Midget himself, ex-Senate president Billy Bulger. His current annual take is $197,665.92 a year - a record that will be harder to break than Joe DiMaggios consecutive-game hitting streak.
Number 2 is ex-House Speaker David Bartley, who last won an election in 1974. Like the Corrupt Midget, he fled into so-called higher education, taking over his hometown school, Holyoke Community College. Bartleys annual take: $152,505.72.
Compared to those Killer Bs, the other General Court hacks are collecting chump change. On Jan. 2, 1991, two squalid legislative careers ended, with one final year of credible service recorded to fatten up their pensions.
Ex-House Speaker George Keverian retired due to ill health - the voters got sick of him. But no problem, hes still taking $54,498.84 a year. The man he vanquished for speaker, Tommy McGee, has also been collecting all these years, and is now at $47,224.68.
Keverian was succeeded as speaker by Good Time Charlie Flaherty, now a convicted felon. Good Time Charlie grabs $44,122.32. Felon Flaherty was succeeded by yet another criminal, Felon Finneran, who is stripped of his $23,712.94 pension, although he is scheming madly to get it back.
Folks, these bloated pensions are the real reason Sals pals are itching to tax you back to the Stone Age. Its what the hacks call fixed costs, because the fix is in - for them.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1149360
And a happy birthday to you
thanks! I’m a little less than 10 yrs younger than Howie,
who was born on 1/17/52...
Happy birthday! :)
It’s raccoonradio’s birthday today,,,,mine’s not til July but thanks for the early greeting!
LOL! Oops — I’ll try to remember in July!
LOL, if you’re over 50 you won’t even remember this converation 10 minutes from now!! LOL!
Huh? What conversation? ;-)
LOL, there ya go!
FYI - Still Down
mms://wmc1.liquidviewer.net/wrko
Thanks!
Yikes on the stream....again, try WNTK or WCRN or even
the Screamer Radio (unless they are using WRKO’s stream!)
thanks to all for the birthday wishes! I’m taking it off from my REAL job. Saw movie “Cadillac Records” at a theater here in Beverly (about Chess Records, Chuck Berry etc) then went to Pizzeria Uno to redeem “free birthday pizza from Insider’s
Club” coupon). Tonight I may see trivia guy Morgan White Jr
assuming he isn’t in Vegas (as he’s been known to do on
Super Bowl weekends!)
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