Bubba’s pep talk: Patrick weathers crisis with call from Clinton

The Boston Herald ^ | 04/13/2007 | Casey Ross

[JohnSheppard]

As controversy enveloped his young tenure, Gov. Deval L. Patrick says he took an impromptu phone call from former President Bill Clinton that helped rescue his fledgling governorship from the downward spiral of its first 100 days.

“We were on the phone for almost an hour,” Patrick said of the recent conversation. “He reminded me just how important it is to stay focused on the (political) destination, even though there is an awful lot of effort to get you off that focus.”

The tete-a-tete with Clinton, a mentor to Patrick who gave him his first government job, shows the powerful allies the new governor can draw upon in times of self-doubt. It also shows that Patrick has already confronted such doubts, despite the wave of support that carried him to the Corner Office.

“I’m learning coping skills,” Patrick, 51, said in a Herald interview. “I think it’s very important to slow down, take it one day at a time and keep going in the right direction.”

During the interview, Patrick said his entry into office came with a “very sharp learning curve,” both in terms of the rough-and-tumble politics of Beacon Hill and the lack of personal privacy afforded by the governorship.

The phone call from Clinton came at a particularly fluid moment in his tenure. Patrick was battling to recover from criticism over his $1,166-a-month Cadillac, expensive office furniture and drapes and a controversial phone call he placed on behalf of Ameriquest Mortgage.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Sounds like a Governor Rendell with a training bra.

[gakrak]

Yes a 32 A and take a tuck. Amen.

[Jack Hammer]

“As controversy enveloped his young tenure, Gov. Deval L. Patrick says he took an impromptu phone call from former President Bill Clinton...”

One crook to another.