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President Obama blows into the bluest state tomorrow facing a cold shoulder from once true-blue admirers, as gay rights activists, anti-war protesters and vexed environmentalists vow to picket a fund-raiser he’s headlining for Gov. Deval Patrick - a marquee event that hasn’t even sold out. As of last night, liberals who once braved frigid temperatures to behold Obama were shunning tickets to the fund-raiser at the posh Westin Copley Place featuring the president, sources told the Herald. And despite campaign denials, Patrick operatives reportedly were pushing the ducats - between $500 and $6,000 - by e-mail up to the last...

Teddymandering is the practice of changing a law to benefit your political party, then reversing the change when your political party will benefit from the original rules to which you objected. Named for former Massachusetts Senator Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedy. Senator Kennedy influenced the Massachusetts state legislature to change the Senatorial succession law during the 2004 election. His reasons were strictly because Senator John Kerry, if elected President, would be replaced by an appointee of (then) Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican. At the time, Kennedy was against any interim appointment until a special election could be held. In 2009, as...

Former Democratic Party chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. has taken over for the late Edward Kennedy in the Senate. Vice President Joe Biden swore in Kirk on Friday hours after a Massachusetts judge rejected a Republican request to delay it. The GOP had argued that Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick exceeded his constitutional authority by appointing Kirk before a traditional 90-day legislative waiting period had expired. State lawmakers passed a bill this week giving Patrick the power to choose an interim senator. Kirk gives Senate Democrats a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority with the health care fight at a critical point.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today denied a motion by state Republicans to delay Gov. Deval Patrick’s appointment of an interim senator by 90 days. Judge Thomas Connolly this afternoon cleared the way for Paul G. Kirk Jr. to be sworn in as an interim U.S. senator today at 3:15 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Developing ...

A Suffolk Superior Court judge will decide by noon on a Republican Party appeal for an emergency injunction to block the appointment of Kennedy family confidant Paul G. Kirk Jr. as interim U.S. senator. The state GOP contends Gov. Deval Patrick overstepped his authority by attaching an emergency preamble to the Senate vacancy law signed yesterday so the legislation would be enacted immediately. The usual waiting period for enactment is 90 days.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today denied a motion by state Republicans to delay Gov. Deval Patrick’s appointment of an interim senator by 90 days. Judge Thomas Connolly this afternoon cleared the way for Paul G. Kirk Jr. to be sworn in as an interim U.S. senator today at 3:15 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Developing ...

[Judge Napolitano speaking]: "Both houses of the legislature have enacted this law, and once Governor Deval Patrick signs it, and he says that he will, it will become the law, and it will allow him to declare an emergency, and once he declares an emergency, he can authorize non-health care personnel, read that to mean police, to vaccinate people against their will. Now can they force adults to take vaccination? No. They will incarcerate adults without a trial, without charges, without even a search warrant who refuse to be vaccinated; this is what the statute authorizes. The staute also authorizes...

BOSTON -- Citing needed support for health care reform, President Barack Obama said Thursday that Gov. Deval Patrick should have the power to appoint an interim senator to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat. Following up on his congressional address Wednesday night, Obama said he supports rewriting a 2004 election law to allow Patrick to appoint an interim senator to fill the seat. The move would require many Massachusetts lawmakers to reverse the stances they took five years ago, when they stripped Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of appointment power. Obama's Organizing for America committee said in an e-mail that...

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill today launched a challenge to Governor Deval Patrick as an independent candidate, vowing to cast aside entrenched partisan differences and "make the government we have work." "I do not enter this race to run against any individual or party," Cahill said in a speech in a downtown hotel ballroom, standing before a black banner that proclaimed "Tim for Governor" in white letters. "Instead I run because I believe we need new leadership to make Massachusetts a vibrant place once again." He vowed to make the state a place "where jobs grow and the economy rebounds....

Last week the late Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, suggested via letter to state Senate legislators and the Democrat Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, that the law be changed to allow swift replacement of representatives should a vacancy in the Senate occur. It appears that a dying man was seeking his last wish: to preserve the “continuity of representation” for his constituents in Massachusetts. At first glance, this attempt to preserve representation and to put the people of Massachusetts before all else is highly altruistic and admirable. Senator Kennedy even stressed the importance of the republican system...

Radio Host Howie Carr today revealed that Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is holding a fundraiser on Cape Cod today at the residence of the Red Cross CEO today. Gov. Patrick will be speaking at Sen. Kennedy's "time" tonight.

Patrick to support change to succession law @ 1:02 pm by Hill Staff Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) further fired up the political chattering class Wednesday morning when he told a local radio station he would approve a plan to appoint an interim successor to the late-Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) until a special election could be held. "Massachusetts needs two voices," Patrick said during an interview with WBUR-FM radio, which was later picked up by The Associated Press. Currently, Massachusetts requires a special election to be held between 145 and 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The law...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is supporting a change in state law that would allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat while a special election is held.

There is no way, a freeloading governmental health plan, run by civil servants with little or no accountability can ever hope to compete against the profit driven private sector, who's very existence and survival is on the line daily, prompting a degree of responsibility, quality and customer satisfaction that assures fewer mistakes are made, and insuring by the very nature of capitalism, an ever expanding thirst for better, faster, and cheaper service....

The inspector general's office for the Social Security Administration is looking into the problem as part of its broader audit on stimulus spending. The Social Security Administration acknowledged the $425,000 glitch following a report that nearly two-dozen inmates in Massachusetts had wrongly received the $250 stimulus checks.

Hey, Deval, if you thought your recent poll numbers have been abysmal - and they have been - wait until after this latest pool-closing fiasco. You’ll be . . . drowning. Do you know what the governor calls a Herald plane hovering over his sparkling pool and cabana on his $1.7 million estate in Richmond on the second-hottest day of the year? “Every rich man’s nightmare.” The name of Deval’s Berkshires retreat, by the way, is Sweet P Farm. Now we know what the P stands for - pool. Talk about tone deaf - firing Dan Grabauskas, not firing Jim...

Politics: Should the election law in Massachusetts be changed to keep Ted Kennedy's seat filled and get ObamaCare passed? As in Minnesota and Illinois, the voters might lose again.Recognizing his own mortality and waging a valiant battle against brain cancer, Kennedy has written a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, state Senate President Theresa Murray and state House Speaker Robert DeLeo asking them to change the law so his seat might be filled immediately until a special election could be held. His letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Boston Globe, does not specially mention his illness or...

Back when I was active in Massachusetts politics, one of my roles was as a coordinator working for Romney when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate. My best friend at the time was an Irish-American, retired airline pilot who loved boating as much as I did, and who did boating stuff with me almost every day (as a college professor, I had summers off). One time I laid out the case for Romney over Kennedy to him, and he sadly agreed, but then said that he had to vote for Kennedy because “we owed it to him”. In...

Letter recognizes what we hesitate to say By Scot Lehigh Globe Columnist / August 20, 2009 It’s hard to read Ted Kennedy’s letter without shaking your head in sadness and in wonder.

Massachusetts Republicans spoke out today against a proposal by US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, under which Kennedy's Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by Democratic Governor Deval Patrick until a special election could be held. House Minority Leader Brad Jones of Reading said the proposal was based not on "what's best for the whole Commonwealth but based on what's best for one political party." "The hypocrisy is astounding. If we had a Republican governor right now, would we be getting that same letter?" he said. “Everybody feels for Senator Kennedy, but the laws...

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, terminally ill with brain cancer, has asked state legislative leaders to change the law and let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a temporary replacement upon his death. Under current law, the seat would be empty until a special election could be held 145 to 160 days later. But Senator Kennedy, a 77-year-old Democrat, wrote in a letter to the governor that he wanted Massachusetts to have full representation in the Senate during that period. Although he did not mention it in the letter, it is becoming increasingly clear that Democratic votes will be crucial to...

A cancer-stricken Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has asked Massachusetts leaders to change state law to allow a speedy replacement if it becomes necessary for him to surrender his seat, fearing a months-long vacancy would deny Democrats a crucial vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. In a note to Gov. Deval Patrick and other state leaders, Kennedy asked that lawmakers allow the governor to appoint an interim replacement pending election of a successor, to ensure there would not be a period with a vacancy. Currently, the law requires a special election to be held within five months. "It is...

Cancer-stricken Sen. Kennedy asks state leaders for speedy process to replace him in Congress BOSTON (AP) — A cancer-stricken Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has written a poignant letter to Massachusetts leaders asking that they change state law to allow a speedy replacement of him in Congress. The note to Gov. Deval Patrick and the state's Senate president and House speaker acknowledges the state changed its succession law in 2004 to require a special election to fill any vacancy. At the time, legislative Democrats were concerned Republican Gov. Mitt Romney would be able to fill any vacancy created as Sen. John...

Okay, at 19% it is technically still double digits, but given that the reviled, detested, and utterly evil George W. Bush had an all-time low approval rating of 20%, which was also the lowest figure for any president in history, Patrick is really plumbing the depths.

Republican Charles Baker says Gov. Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill Democrats have "turned a crisis into a calamity" and made the Massachusetts economy "a wreck" with excessive government spending and an unwise tax increase. In a video to supporters unveiled today, the former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care president says he has twice engineered economic turnarounds.

Governor Deval Patrick, fresh off signing a major tax increase and still battling through a historic budget crisis, has seen a huge drop in his standing among Massachusetts voters and faces a tough road to a second term, according to a new Boston Globe poll.

BOSTON – A crowd of hundreds of local Muslims inaugurated a large new mosque last week in Roxbury Crossing. The 68,000 sq foot Islamic Cultural Center in the heart of Boston, designed by Dr. Sami Angawi, and pioneered by board member Dr. Walid Fitaihi, Dr. Osama Kandeel and others, celebrated its inauguration with the historic attendance of the first Muslim in the United States Congress, Keith Ellison, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. This new Islamic cultural center in America is tremendously significant as it resides 5 minutes from the heart of downtown Boston and less than...

Governor Deval Patrick this afternoon empathized with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., recalling his own experiences with racial profiling and "feeling powerless" when he was a black teenager at Milton Academy.

Governor Deval Patrick this afternoon empathized with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., recalling his own experiences with racial profiling and "feeling powerless" when he was a black teenager at Milton Academy. “In some ways this is every black man’s nightmare and a reality for many black men," Patrick told a crush of reporters at an impromptu press conference in a hallway at the State House. “Have I ever had the experience of feeling powerless in a situation like that? Sure I have," Patrick said. "When I was student at Milton Academy, I remember -- a new student fresh from...

It is looking increasingly unlikely that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will face an easy campaign in 2010, and it is near safe to say he will probably not be re-elected. Patrick’s numbers are slipping to what has been called “Bush-level:” in May, his disapproval rating was at almost 70% – a number that will surely skyrocket when the 1.5% sales tax increase to 6.5%, supported by Patrick, is implemented in August. Patrick promised in 2006 not to raise taxes and curtail wasteful spending – and has done neither. While he does have Obama campaign czar David Plouffe working for him,...

The Franklin Park Zoo, a Boston landmark for nearly a century, may be forced to close and euthanize up to a fifth of the animals in its care due to devastating budget cuts. New England's largest zoo and its counterpart, the Stoneham Zoo, saw their state funding cut from $6.5 million to $2.5 million by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the Boston Globe reported, and expects to run out of money by October. Zoo officials said they would have to lay off most of their 165 employees and find new homes for the more than 1,000 animals they currently house, the...

As Jim Geraghty notes over at the Campaign Spot, the race for Massachusetts governor is heating up. Yesterday, Charlie Baker, the relatively unknown CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, announced his plans to face off against Christy Mihos in the Republican primary, in hopes of challenging incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick in the general election. As the CEO of a major regional insurance company, Baker’s a health-care guy, and that’s very important in Massachusetts. Under Patrick, the Bay State has struggled to effectively institute the comprehensive health-care plan devised by former governor Mitt Romney. Though Massachusetts has achieved nearly universal health-care...

Gov. Deval Patrick has only himself to blame for an embarrassing poll showing a narrow win for Republican rival Christy Mihos, opposing strategists and potential challengers charged yesterday. “Patrick right now is running against himself - and losing,” said political strategist and author Dick Morris, a former top adviser to President Clinton who is working for Mihos. “It shows there’s tremendous vulnerability.” The Rasmussen/FOX 25 poll released Monday, which surveyed 500 voters, found 41 percent would vote for Mihos and 40 percent for Patrick.

How else to explain the fact that Democrat governors in two of the most liberal states in the country, New Jersey and Massachusetts, appear to be in big electoral trouble? Either Obama and Congress are damaging the Party brand or these two guys must really suck as governors. Either way, the numbers don't lie.

The Cape Cod Commission has submitted an appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, claiming the state Energy Facilities Siting Board overstepped its authority when it overruled the commission and gave Cape Wind all the local and regional permits it needs to move forward; Gov. Deval Patrick sent some folks to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to hear people's thoughts on placing wind turbines on public lands; the first floating wind turbine has been installed; and a new survey finds that a goodly portion of Massachusetts residents are concerned that NIMBYism has impeded the Cape Wind project. We'll get to all...

The consultant who helped Bill Clinton win the Arkansas governorship has joined the Christy Mihos campaign. Dick Morris, a Fox News contributor and veteran of several campaigns, including former Massachusetts governors Bill Weld and Ed King, will oversee strategy, polling and advertising for Mihos, the first announced Republican candidate to challenge Gov. Deval Patrick.

Posing as a reformer is tiresome work. So said James Michael Curley, and nothing has changed. Just ask Gov. Deval Patrick. Riding around in his Cadillac, handing out six-figure jobs to his unemployed neighbors, appointing maxed-out campaign contributors to judgeships - now that’s fun. Trying to keep a straight face while claiming he believes in “reform before revenue” - not nearly so much fun. Will the benumbed voters buy Deval’s tiresome new pose? Not if they remember his 2006 vow to deliver property-tax relief to homeowners. Last week, the Senate was “debating” the latest round of tax increases, although maybe...

As a resident of Massachusetts, I see real parallels between the rise and fall of our first black governor Deval Patrick, and the rise and coming fall of the first black president, Barack Obama. Let's get to some politically correct, uncomfortable-to-say for some, specifics. 1. The Ballot Becomes The Race CardBoth Deval Patrick and Barack Obama had the same campaign guru: David Axelrod.Using white liberal guilt to his political advantage, Axelrod created candidates that were immune from the normal political vetting process, as any attempt to do such would be called veiled racism. With that, they run with vague slogans...

Driven by angry constituents, state senators are moving to flatten the tires of welfare recipients by cutting a program spotlighted in the Herald that hands them donated cars and state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership. “We can’t be giving out freebies,” said state Sen. Steven A. Baddour (D-Methuen). “At a time when we’re cutting programs across the spectrum and working families are struggling to pay the bills, this program is just too rich for this budget.” The Herald reported last week that Gov. Deval Patrick was expanding the $400,000 wheels-for-welfare program with a $30,000 infusion despite the budget crisis....

Massachusetts H 2202 o Bans ownership of any "assault weapons" o Bans ownership of any semi-auto rifles or pistols as "machine guns;" possession/ownership of such to be punished by a minimum three years in prison o Outlaws possession or ownership of any firearms that cannot "microstamp" cartridges Requires: o A complete list of every handgun owned must be supplied to your licensing authority; o $250,000 insurance policy on every handgun to cover any harm or damage that might arise from the use; o Places a member of Stop Handgun Violence on the state's Gun Control Advisory Board; o Requires Owners...

The announcement will blame the intense traffic tie-ups over Easter weekend on the decision by turnpike chief Alan LeBovidge to avoid calling in overtime workers to replace sick workers, a cost-cutting measure. ... Despite some calls for LeBovidge's resignation, he will not be quitting or be forced out, according to the administration official and LeBovidge's chief of staff, Jennifer Flagg.

I never thought I’d be writing these words, but Mike Dukakis is no longer the most clueless hack ever to serve as governor of Massachusetts. Deval Patrick, come on down! Think about what Ed King and Angelo Berlandi did to the Duke before the Democratic primary in 1978. They put slow-moving trucks on the old Central Artery during rush hour, slowing traffic to a crawl. On the back of the trucks were giant signs: Blame Dukakis for this Traffic Mess! That was a dirty trick. What happened Sunday on the Mass Pike produced even worse traffic jams, but the Pike...

Some Mass Pike commuters smell a rat, accusing toll road bosses of purposely creating nightmare holiday traffic jams to sell Fast Lane transponders and pump up a proposed 19-cent gas tax hike. Thousands of motorists were left to stew in traffic Friday, Saturday and especially Sunday after toll takers called in sick, leaving limited cash lanes open. One driver told the Herald even a rattled toll collector was cooking up conspiracy theories while dealing with the mess. “ ‘Do you have a cell phone?’ ” a toll taker asked the driver, according to his e-mail to the Herald.“He told me...

THE SPECIAL COMMISSION on Pension Reform, which convened for the first time yesterday - specified under Massachusetts law - comprises nine public employees, one retired public employee, three officials from the public-employee retirement systems, and two economists from private universities. By my reckoning, that makes 13 commission members from the public sector and two from the private sector, which calls to mind the old jape about democracy being two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. It's an amusing quip, assuming you're not a sheep. The special commission is only the latest group to cast a...

The voters are restless - and they’re angry. There’s no other spin that can be put on the latest 7News/Suffolk University poll numbers. Right now most of their anger is directed at Gov. Deval Patrick, with 47 percent of those surveyed saying, it’s “time to elect someone else,” compared to 34 percent who think he deserves re-election. And more broadly 51 percent believe the state is on the wrong track and 71 percent believe Massachusetts will become “Taxachusetts” once again. The poll number landed at the same time as a revealing column on the oped page of The Boston Globe...

Praise Mitt Romney. Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the "universal" health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country. It is proving to be instructive, as Mr. Romney's foresight previews what President Obama, Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy and Pete Stark are cooking up for everyone else. In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls. As costs continue to rise,...

There’s a good reason to be a little disturbed by the results of a recent 7News/Suffolk University poll concerning Massachusetts politics. According to the poll, 35 percent of Bay State voters do not know that Tim Murray is the state’s lieutenant governor. Also, 34 percent are unfamiliar with Chris Gabrieli (despite the fact that he ran for Governor in 2006, Lieutenant Governor in 2002 and Congress in 1998), 30 percent are unfamiliar with State Auditor Joseph DeNucci, 23 percent have no knowledge of Secretary of State Bill Galvin or State Treasurer Tim Cahill, 33 percent are unfamiliar with 2006 gubernatorial...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is taking a beating politically as the state’s economy sags and the media reports about patronage hirings on Beacon Hill. Some 47 percent said someone else deserves to be elected next year, and 51 percent said Massachusetts is headed on the wrong track. A potential head-to-head matchup shows Patrick losing to Treasurer Timothy Cahill ...

[“Uncle, uncle,” - Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick] Why are you crying “Uncle,” Gov. Patrick? It’s the taxpayers who are getting the wedgie. So a reporter asks you about your bone-headed comment about make-work jobs for your feel-good friends and you say “uncle.” But last I checked, we taxpayers are still on the hook for Carol Aloisi’s salary. And while paying Sen. Marian Walsh $120,000 is better than paying her $175,000, the fact remains that when you took office, Governor, the assistant executive director of the Health and Education Facilities Authority was costing us zero. So you get away with keeping...

Howie thread starting with his Sunday Herald column