Posted on 12/03/2011 9:27:20 PM PST by raccoonradio
Howie Carr Show thread for the week starting with his Sunday Boston Herald column, "How ‘brainy’ Frank got Barney-mandered"
Sunday column ping
How ‘brainy’ Frank got Barney-mandered
Redistricting diss took pompous rep by surprise
By Howie Carr | Sunday, December 4, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Photo
Photo by Kelvin Ma
Barney Frank has always been the smartest guy in the room — just ask him.
As for Eddie Markey, well, let’s just say that he isn’t — even if the room is a broom closet and the only other thing in it is a mop.
So here’s the irony: Barney Frank, so arrogant, so full of himself, so intoxicated by decades of fawning media coverage, just assumed that he would be taken care of in redistricting by the peons in the Legislature.
Meanwhile, Fast Eddie was sucking up to these same below-average solons. Markey may not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but he was smart enough to remember Tip O’Neill’s old adage about how you have to ask for every vote.
Maybe Barney went to sleep for another reason. Back in 1976, Eddie and Barney were both state reps and Markey was running for Congress in a multi-candidate field. He had one advantage: Then-House Speaker Tommy McGee had gotten angry at him and thrown him out of his office. Markey’s desk was out in a dark State House hallway.
A perfect visual for a TV spot, but somebody had to come up with some catchy copy. And it was Barney who helped out his friend: “They can tell Ed Markey where to sit, but they can’t tell him where to stand.”
Perhaps Barney thought Eddie still owed him for that one, 35 years later. But in redistricting, it’s every man for himself.
Barney got caught flat-flooted. He didn’t wake up until the sky was dark with chickens coming to roost. To quote Oscar Wilde: It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.
“They didn’t do me any favors,” Barney said. But why would they?
He hadn’t cultivated any of the newer reps; he probably still only knew a handful. The other congressman who got his way at Barney’s expense was Steve Lynch of South Boston and there’s another ironic twist for you.
For years Southie’s Senate President Billy Bulger unsuccessfully tried to wreck Barney’s career, in both legislative and congressional redistricting. But now, all these years later, Steve Lynch, the guy who ended the Bulger dynasty in Southie, now takes care of his old foe’s final unfinished piece of business.
At the end, Barney realized he was in a jam and begged for all of Fall River. But that would have required some shifts on the Irish Riviera. Lynch, backed by his own surrogate, Rep. Mike Moran of Brighton, refused to give up any of the South Shore. He had fashioned the perfect district for himself, shorn of minorities and heretics (Needham) and what did he owe Barney?
Barney’s never been one to suffer fools gladly. Again, just ask him. But that can be a real problem if you’re trying to get something out of the fool-heavy Mass. Legislature. Barney, though, figured he was holding two aces: Sen. Stan Rosenberg, the gay Senate chairman of redistricting, and The Boston Globe, so simpatico in ever so many ways.
Problem was, Rosenberg was sick and the Globe is a mere shadow of its former self, unable to take out anybody except the occasional sitting duck like Tim Murray.
Barney’s last-minute decision reportedly infuriated another member of the delegation — Rep. John Olver. He was basically pushed to the curb, then three weeks later Barney changed his mind and decided not to run. Olver wanted another term and now he won’t get it.
Olver’s office didn’t return calls, but he was probably finished no matter what Barney did. His district already extended east to suburban Lowell and he wasn’t getting any more of Niki Tsongas’ territory. Niki had Senate President Terry Murray protecting her back. They are women, hear them roar.
And now we’re left with perhaps one of the Kennedy twins. Here’s how you can tell Joe apart from the other one — he has red hair, and he’s not the one his father set on fire with a botched fireworks display a few years back on the Cape.
Meet the new boss ...
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1385778
I will admit Howie has mentioned that Barney did get off a couple nice jokes at one time:
“Depress the Central Artery? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just raise the city?”
“If they want to depress the Central Artery they should just have Mike Dukakis talk to it.”
Sean Bielat is considering a run at Barney’s seat again.
But he’s living in Pennsylvania right now, and has two kids under 2 years of age.
We need somebody (anybody) to run against our sorry Congressional delegation. I’m tired of hiding the fact that I’m from Massachusetts.
Hmm...if Frank was “in trouble,” I don’t see how getting all of Fall River would save him. Also there are many changes to the map that could have been made if that was the case, not necessarily involving the Irish Riviera.
More later.
I’m not sure what all is meant by “Irish Riviera,” but as I look over the 2010 results and the old and new maps, McGovern (Jim) carried Fall River 7204-2163. That’s 9367 votes, and a piece of Fall River is in the new 4th.
Frank lost Freetown (near Fall River but is in the old 4th and the new 4th) 1432-1979.
He lost Lakeville (same story as Freetown), 1501-2945.
That totals 7857 votes. I am thinking that the piece of Fall River in the new 4th is around 1510 votes - anyway, no other town on the border of the 4th has any fewer than 1510 votes. I am aware that number of constituents is not necessarily proportional to the number of votes. I’m too lazy to pull up the census 2010 data though.
Anyway, at best Frank would have gained 6300 votes from switching Lakeville and Freetown for Fall River. I see all other switches of this size no better than this one.
Frank won in ‘10 by 25K. Keating won by only 12K in ‘10 so yes I can see that he might not want to surrender friendly territory for potentially hostile territory. Keating’s district changes a good bit so the actual margin is surely different now. Surely the Democrats want to retain all 9 seats so I can’t see Keating’s margin getting smaller than what it was in ‘10.
I said above “all other switches of this size.” There is an anti-Frank corridor from Norfolk Town down to Rehoboth-Dighton-Berkley. New Bedford (now in the 9th) supported Frank 14916-6244 in ‘10. Actually getting New Bedford would have been more valuable for Frank than getting Fall River.
Lynch won a number of towns convincingly - Dedham, Westwood, Walpole - however that support might not extend to Frank. Also there’s that chunk of southwest Boston in the new 8th that adjoins the 4th — I believe Lynch lives in the oceanside Southeast Boston (separated by the majority-minority 7th).
Thanks for the comprhensive analysis.
I’ve always understood the Irish Riviera to mean Scituate, which is in the 10th District. I suppose it could include parts of Marshfield and Duxbury as well.
I’ve taken a further look at it. Fall River was partly in the 4th in the 2000’s. Frank won that portion in ‘10 5725-3431.
He actually got a pretty good deal.
The carryovers voted approximately 83253-66301 in favor of Frank. I don’t know how the old Fall River line compares with the new Fall River line.
The constituents he lost voted approximately 42941-35216 in favor of Frank (with New Bedford making up all that margin and then some). He lost 7 towns that voted against him, and only 5 that voted for him.
The territory he gained from the old 3rd district voted approximately 38072-35012 for McGovern.
The territory he gained from the old 9th voted 16382-9502 for Lynch. Those heretics in Needham supported Lynch 8361-3986. Does heretic = “socially conservative?” If so then yes, Lynch’s support wouldn’t extend to Frank.
The territory he gained from the old 2nd voted against Neal, 8416-8989.
It was cheaper to build a tunnel under the English Channel.
“If they want to depress the Central Artery they should just have Mike Dukakis talk to it.”
Hopefully, Willard will soon be available to take that task over. After all, if you want a tunnel, you need to bore it.
I’ve been listening to Howie’s radio show since the Jerry Williams days, but he is starting to be unbearable. He sounds like a Mittbot.
Wed column ping
Redistricting luck of draw for Bob Kraft
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, December 7, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Forget congressional redistricting, the real redistricting this fall at the State House was in the casino districts.
You think U.S. Rep. Steve Lynch won big? Not compared to Bob Kraft and Steve Wynn, he didn’t. Forget settling the NFL lockout last summer. This could be Kraft’s biggest score of the decade. Do you think the NFL will go along with this? Well, let’s see, where do they always have their offseason meeting?
At the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. And where is Bob Kraft’s winter home? At the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. When he says jump, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says, “How high?”
Surely Mayor Menino and Speaker DeLeo had some indications they were being rolled. After all, the first story about the pending Wynn-Kraft merger appeared in this newspaper in September. But apparently they couldn’t read the smoke signals — specifically, how “Development Associates LLC” didn’t want to get thrown into American Indian territory, where the locals get a temporary leg up over all the Great White Fathers who’ve been speaking with forked tongue.
So now for the first time ever, Foxboro and Boston are in the same district, for purposes of designating a casino. What a revoltin’ development dis is, if you’re Mumbles. As for Kraft, he’s got to be wondering about this guy — first he gets mad because Kraft tries to put a stadium in Boston, so it ends up in Foxboro.
Now Kraft wants to put a casino in Foxboro, and Menino throws a hissy fit and wants it in Boston.
How does this all play out? It’s too early to tell, but we do know one thing. DeLeo couldn’t get a bill without Gov. Deval Patrick’s signature. He and Menino weren’t in any position to quibble over the “redistricting.” So they didn’t.
As Barney Frank found out, the devil is in the details.
We used to have “Praying Indians” in this state. Now we have gambling Indians — Mashpee Wampanoags. Out of their stable we find seven lobbying groups, including The Delahunt Group LLC, and Smith, Ruddock and Hayes (Smith and Hayes being ex-state reps, and Emmet Hayes is also known as Mr. Shannon O’Brien).
The Hard Rock group is represented by Golden West Associates, which includes, among others, ex-Sen. Martin Dunn and ex-House Speaker David Bartley, age 76. That last sentence is the first time the words “David Bartley” and “hard rock” have ever appeared in the same sentence.
MGM Grand Resorts International has retained a law firm that just hosted a time for the lieutenant governor, Tim “Crash” Murray.
Then there’s Suffolk Downs — DeLeo and Menino’s favorite. Their stable includes ex-House majority leader Wacky Jackie Murphy, ex-Rep. John Stefanini and his cousin, Charles Stefanini.
Of course, Suffolk needed some new guns. Their former lobbyist, Dickie McDonough, was just packed off to the federal prison in Fort Dix last week on a fraud rap in the Cognos circus, joining Mob boss Carmen “The Cheeseman” DiNunzio at that Club Fed in the Garden State.
How much you want to bet Dickie isn’t the last State House hack hooked up with this casino deal to end up in the sneezer?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1386550
He was in prev. death pools but was he in the most recent one? NY Times: Harry Morgan, the prolific character actor best known for playing the acerbic but kindly Colonel Potter in the long-running television series “M*A*S*H,” died Wednesday morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. His son Charles confirmed his death.
DEATH POOL TODAY AT 4
Howie will be off Thu and Fri, in NYC on personal business.
Col. Hunt will be on.
I don’t see Col. Hunt on Fox News much anymore, and it doesn’t surprise me as I watch them slump to the left over there.
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