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Howie Carr column ping

Wave of pol flights to lobbying makes it special time of year

by Howie Carr/ Boston Herald
10/5/07

Is it my imagination, or is Gov. Deval Patrick doing pretty much nothing?

Inertia in government is not a bad thing, you understand. Mostly the governor likes to talk about hope and opportunity. He must be hoping for an opportunity.

You’ve heard a lot lately about casinos. But there is no casino bill. Maybe next week - wink wink, nudge nudge.

You’ve read about the proposal to consolidate the transportation agencies. There is no “MassTrans” bill. The only bills are for the new drapes in the Corner Office, the Coupe Deval and the gas. But it’s gas well-wasted, if it keeps Deval on the road and away from the State House.

He said he was going to cut your property taxes and he hasn’t done it. That’s the bad news. The good news - he hasn’t raised them either.

But even by modern State House standards of sloth, the Patrick administration is setting the pace for others to follow - or not, as the case may be. For instance, after nine months in office, Deval just got around to picking his final Cabinet secretary. To fill the utterly worthless job of running the Office of Elder Affairs, he selected the utterly worthless state rep Mike Festa of Melrose. Does this mean there will be yet another special election?

There’s a “special” almost every Tuesday now, whenever a rep quits to become a lobbyist, or to have a cup of coffee in the Patrick administration before he becomes a lobbyist. What’s odd about this proliferation of lobbyists is that there are fewer solons than ever to actually lobby. All a lobbyist needs is the ear of either the Senate president or the House speaker and he’s all set - at least to block legislation, which is what most lobbying comes down to: stopping somebody else from getting whatever it is your client wants.

So it’s understandable that hacks further down the totem pole are quitting to become “lobbyists.” And the League of Women Voters and other goo-goos feel they have to be replaced, even though 99 percent of them weren’t doing anything at the State House anyway except collecting per diems.

Next Tuesday’s “special” features Anthony Gallucio of Cambridge, a two-time OUI loser last seen breathing a sigh of relief after dodging a third driving under. Now he’s running unopposed for a gerrymandered 617-area-code Senate seat vacated by a guy who quit to go to work for a health insurer.

Then on Oct. 16 it’s the special election to fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, who bailed to fatten his pension at UMass-Lowell. On Oct. 23 it’s the final fight to replace East Boston Rep. Tony Petrucelli, who won still another special election to replace Senate President Bob Travaglini, who quit to become a lobbyist.

Meanwhile, Trav’s brother, who runs the state pension system for globe-trotting State Treasurer Tim Cahill, got a massive pay raise this week. It’s a kiss for the thoroughly mediocre job Mike Trav has been doing, the theory being that if he hadn’t gotten that extra $120K, he might have bailed. Let him quit - I’ll bet we can find someone else who can lose $30 million in public funds in a single hedge fund.

Then there’s Speaker Sal DiMasi. He’s against casinos, for reasons no one can fathom. When Sal DiMasi emerges as the conscience of the Legislature, you’ve got even more problems than usual. I spotted Sal a couple of weeks ago, leaving a breakfast “time” at a major downtown law firm. He was accompanied by Paul Scapicchio, a former Boston city councilor who quit to become a, well, you know what he’s doing now.

Then there’s the president of the Senate, Therese Murray. She digs Russia, don’t ask me to explain it. It’s like Sal being against casinos - a sorrowful mystery. One of her senators, Bob Havern of Arlington, just quit to become a lobbyist. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. I believe they’ve scheduled a special election.