Howie Carr thread week of Sept 21, 2008

Pair of hacks finally dealt losing hand
By Howie Carr | Sunday, September 21, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson should thank House Majority Leader John Rogers, and vice versa.

If you think politics makes strange bedfellows, what about corruption probes? Both of these bent solons were nailed this week.

If the ethics cops went after one, they were going to have to go after both of them. So they did the only fair thing: They broomed both cases. How Massachusetts is that?

Wilkerson (Roxbury) lost her seat in the primary, but it could have been even worse - she hadn’t finished paying the fine she’d been assessed for her most recent ethical problems. But the AG looked the other way until the check arrived, and the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) said nothing until after the primary, which Dianne lost anyway.

But just to level the playing field, as they say, the OCPF then gave a pass to Jolly Rogers (Norwood) after it discovered him funneling cash to a “close adviser” who runs a bank in Randolph. This banker, who is Rogers’ political adviser, was using the money Rogers paid him for “advice” to make the monthly mortgage payments on a house in East Falmouth that Rogers and the banker co-owned.

The OCPF didn’t find Rogers guilty of improprieties, of course, because around here in the halls of justice , the only justice is in the halls. They ordered Jolly to pay $30,000 for the cost of the probe. And they let him take the dough from his campaign account, you know, the same one he was using to give the bucks to the banker who was paying down Rogers’ mortgage on his vacation home.

Hmmmmm. Did I mention that Jolly Rogers, who desperately wants to be the next speaker, is a disciple of two former House speakers, Good Time Charlie Flaherty and Tommy Taxes Finneran, both of who are convicted felons, and neither of whom did a day in the slammer? Thank you very much , Judge Richard Stearns.

As for Dianne, I have a prediction: She will be appointed to the Boston Licensing Board by Gov. Patrick. A judgeship is out, ditto the Industrial Accidents Board. But the Licensing Board . . . well, there is a vacancy, and no public hearings are required. Suzanne Iannella has been angling for it. The cushy hack job pays $85,000, which is $20,000 more than she makes at the state ABCC.

But does Deval really want to appoint Iannella, who is, as his buddy Barack Obama would say, a typical white person?

The only problem is, the vacancy on the Licensing Board is for a Republican. That shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem. Just ask Sheriff Andrea Cabral. Jumping to what Dianne can call “the party of Lincoln” beats having to go out and get a real job.

Plus, Dianne’s got the perfect experience for the job. She’s already done time at a halfway house. Usually you don’t get lugged until after you’ve been on the Licensing Board a few years.

Say what you will about Dianne, the woman has been true to the squalid traditions of the Second Suffolk Senate District. When you’re elected senator from Roxbury, you don’t worry about filing your predecessor’s shoes, you worry about filling their orange jumpsuit.

From Bill Owens (20 months at Walpole for a stabbing) to Royal Bolling Sr. (a federal bit at Danbury for income-tax evasion) to Miss Dianne at the halfway house - let’s just say, if you’re indicted, you’re invited.

Rogers, likewise, has learned well from his crooked mentors. Consider Rogers’ hero, Good Time Charlie Flaherty. When Flaherty went down on the tax-evasion rap, Rogers compared it to the crucifixion of Christ. And how did Good Time Charlie hide income - why, by accepting free lodging at the seaside vacation homes of local greedheads.

Now, 15 years later, Rogers finds himself in a photo finish with the cops over . . . a seaside vacation home.

And what is it with these legislative leaders and banks? My God, using a banker as your - well, as your close political adviser? What has been Speaker Sal DiMasi’s biggest headache this year? Those three (yes, three) mortgages on his condo in the North End.

So Rogers becomes the underdog in the speaker’s fight. The new front-runner is Robert DeLeo of Winthrop, who for years used a P.O. box as his home address.

Welcome to Massachusetts, the cradle of kleptocracy.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1120426

BUMP!!

As always, thanks for the pings.
I love reading Howie’s columns.

Mon show ping. Max Robins as usual, 5 pm hour. I think Howie will do a show from Portland ME in a couple weeks (it was mentioned on WGAN website)

Howie strikes again... does his guest spot in the 5th inning and Cleveland puts up 4 runs with HC in the booth..,

I had a friend from Akron, OH in my area today so I took a day off from work to spend time with him (radio buff; we
stopped into WFNX and also went by Guest St. so he could
at least say he’s seen the new Ch. 2 building. Yup Howie
wasn’t there at ‘RKO studios across the st.—broadcasting from the restaurant instead—
though I noticed a “WRKO-Red Sox” poster in one window of
the third floor of 20 Guest St. (Entercom bldg)

I taped the show and will hear it back later (only heard
snippets while driving around). If my friend and I had
thought of it and gotten tix WAY in adv. we could have
caught the Sox game tonight! As it was, as I dropped him
off at Alewife so he could take a train back to his motel
in Braintree, I turned up the vol. on ‘RKO and there
was Howie...cursing them again? :) But the Sox are
ahead right now 5-4 in the 8th

Wed column ping
Statie cruising on your dime, but not in a cruiser
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, September 24, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Happy Birthday, Mass. State Trooper Terry Nugent!

The pride of Troop D turns 37 today, and for his present he gets to be this week’s poster boy for the Vote Yes on Question 1 campaign to abolish the state income tax.

According to the I-Team on Channel 4, Nugent has been running a charter-fishing business, while working out of the Bourne barracks. Base pay in 2007: $70,794.60.

With overtime etc.: $84,591.

Only problem is, the trooper can’t stop posting about his adventures - on the open sea, not Route 6. And according to Ch. 4, it appears that on some of the days he was “gone fishing,” he was also calling in sick.

Here is his defense, as posted on stripersonline.com yesterday morning:

“First I’d like to say that all of this has stemmed from an ANONYMOUS complaint letter . . . The complainant chose to hide their identity.”

Yep, that’s what “ANONYMOUS” usually means. But why would anyone want his name attached to a dime-drop on a guy with a badge and a gun?

“They found a couple of instances where I had taken sick leave or family sick leave and I had fishing reports posted for the following day.”

And those suspicious bleepity-bleeps immediately jumped to their own damn conclusions. Did I mention Riptide Charter’s rates? A half-day inshore for bass and bluefish is $600, a full day $900. Canyon trips, which run 14 to 18 hours, will run you $1,950. He’s also available for “Speaking Engagements.”

How much would it cost to book Trooper Nugent for “How Great Is It To Have a State Job!”

“At this point IA (Internal Affairs) has not found grounds to charge me with any wrongdoing.”

What a surprise. As Juvenal once said, “Who will guard the guards themselves?”

In the old days, it would have taken a lot of time to bag someone like Trooper Nugent. You’d need a Deep Throat down on the docks. Then you’d have to stake out his berth with a camera crew, and bag him coming off the boat, all the while hoping like hell that he’d phoned in sick, instead of taking a vacation day off.

Now, though, with the Internet, the guy hangs himself. On Aug. 25, 2007, he happily posted a note about his new boat under “Rippy Got a New Ride.” It’s a real beauty - “the new Contender 33T!!!”

Delivery was scheduled for the next Wednesday or Thursday. Ch. 4 reports that he banged in sick the following Wednesday.

According to his payroll records, Nugent called in sick May 18, May 25 and June 15, and then went fishing, according to his postings, which he assured us yesterday are always factual because “I have always believed that being honest with my reports was a major factor in building a successful business.”

Yes, Trooper, we can all agree, honesty is the best policy. Like on June 15, when you called in sick, and advised your angler pals, “Take a day off-call in sick.”

The problem is, if you have a job in the Dreaded Private Sector, you can get fired for doing that. Probably won’t, in most cases, but you are at risk. Most people in the DPS don’t have a powerful union covering their backs at every turn.

“It would seem that my honesty in posting details of my daily agenda may in turn be the lynchpin (sic) in this situation.”

No, Trooper, no one is questioning whether you were honest with your buddies, and potential customers, at stripersonline.com. The question is, were you honest with the MSP brass, and the taxpayers who paid for your, ahem, sick days, and for the OT to whoever had to replace you on the Cape.

Every week, there’s at least one or two more excellent examples of why you need to vote yes on Question 1, to abolish the 5.3 percent Mass. state income tax. Last week it was the no-shows at the T, one of whom is the brother of a former judge and state rep. Before that, it was the sticky-fingered Mass Pike toll takers, and the T thief at Kenmore Station, and the Boston firefighter who claimed he was unable to work because of an injury yet could still take part in body-building contests.

This is how they’re squandering your money in the hackerama. They’re not spending it “for the children,” they’re spending it on themselves. And guess what - chances are, they’re make a lot more money than you do for a lot less work, and behind the “job” comes the 80 percent pension, not to mention the health care.

Happy Birthday, Trooper Nugent. Is that a day off too under your contract?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists//view.bg?articleid=1121077