Carr: Lt. gov really picks cream of the crop
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 By: Howie Carr
All roads seem to lead to Lt. Gov. Tim “Crash” Murray — especially the winding and crooked ones.
Now it turns out that the hack who allegedly went postal on a state rep in Dartmouth a couple of weeks ago gave $200 to Tiny Tim five days before he applied for the state job he desperately wanted.
Hack-on-hack crime — try not to let this destroy your faith in the integrity of state government.
It’s no surprise that the payroll patriot, one David J. Oliveira, felt entitled to a no-heavy-lifting state job that pays as much as $115,000 a year. But assistant commissioner of the agriculture department?
I mean, Oliveira has — had — impeccable hack credentials. Worked for Ted Kennedy and he was a former member of the board of the Steamship Authority — in the Bristol bayou, that makes you a made man.
And yet he allegedly flipped out over losing the job of assistant aggie commissioner? I understand they play for small stakes in Bristol County, but this is ridiculous.
So Oliveira is passed over after butting heads with another hack — the aide to the solon he assaulted at a basketball camp, state Rep. Chris Markey. What was Oliveira thinking? I called him yesterday, but he didn’t return my call. Markey’s dad was a judge and the former mayor of New Bedford. Oliveira left young Markey with a collapsed lung, not exactly a good way to win friends and influence people.
And it all leads back to the lame-duck dead-duck lieutenant governor, Tim “Crash” Murray. Oliveira has been working for the Liberty Square Group, which represents the “embattled” Crash.
Now it turns out that both Markey and Oliveira went to Murray about the job. We all know Tiny Tim is about as bright as a three-watt bulb, but is it possible he promised one job to two people?
If Crash asked Deval for a favor, he’d get it. They have so much in common — both needed three tries to pass the bar exam. I wonder too if Murray knows Oliveira, not just from Liberty Square, but also from Dartmouth. That’s where he’s been known to summer, renting the house of ex-state Rep. John Quinn, who lost his House seat after an failed bid for sheriff.
After taking in Crash as his tenant, Quinn suddenly became “director of graduate public service” at UMass-Dartmouth for $103,000 a year. Another nationwide search.
Did I mention that Oliveira also gave $100 to Quinn? Is UMass-Dartmouth hiring?
Mumbles, Don't go breaking my heart
By: Howie Carr
Say it ain’t so, Mumbles.
Say you’re not quitting, please. OK, we noticed how bad you looked on City Hall Plaza with the circus, we heard about the meeting with your doctors Tuesday.
But this decision not to run really fries my nose, as you’d say. It’s already an Alcatraz around my neck. Who will warn us about “suspicious bombs,” information you glean from the BPD’s “intelligent unit”?
Let’s look at who might be the next mayor. The new front-runner appears to be Suffolk district attorney Dan Conley. He’s from Hyde Park, he’s half-Italian, he’s run citywide three times, he has something like $850,000 in his campaign war chest. And I repeat, he’s Suffolk’s chief prosecutor.
We’re looking at a lame-duck feeding frenzy that will make the California gold rush look like a Girl Scout bake sale. Every developer with a postage-stamp-sized lot downtown will want a permit for a skyscraper. Mumbles will be handing out liquor licenses in Readville as mementos of his five terms, suitable for framing or more likely instant transfer to Brighton or Quincy Market. The last time City Hall went through one of these lame-duck land rushes, Mayor Kevin White was grabbing lots by eminent domain and handing them off to developers.
Then there’s the candidate already in the fight, John Connolly. They call him “Lumpy” in West Roxbury. He has almost 400 large. He won’t make waves. He also won’t make the runoff.
Rep. Marty Walsh of Dorchester now fills the seat Jim Brett had when he ran against Menino in 1993. Brett’s base wasn’t big enough then, and now Walsh has had to annex a Chinese precinct in Quincy across Marina Bay. He already makes close to $250,000, including his second job with the Boston Building Trades. He’s the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, where scandals go to die. What exactly do you like in that CV?
City Councilor Ayana Pressley is black, she topped the ticket in 2011 and she’s not from here. That’s the good news. The bad news, she has maybe $20,000 in her campaign account. Good luck with that. Then there’s Tito Jackson. He’s got, what, $31,000.
City Council President Steve Murphy, with $100,000, has only ever won a council seat. Rob Consalvo, aka Mini-Me, has more dough but no chance. Felix Arroyo is running for lieutenant governor.
You can describe this field with Mumbles’ own words — “a few knuckleheads.”
Mumbles, don’t leave us!