Posted on 01/26/2008 11:32:48 PM PST by raccoonradio
Another week of the Howie live thread, starting off with Howie's Sunday Herald column ("Mass. voters to thrill Hill on Moonbat Tues.")
I'd add corrupt, cantankerous, abusive, counterproductive, power hungry, and given his conduct towards Romney, over the verge of senility.
(Romney was originally #4 on my list of preferred candidates, and McCain was at the bottom)
Giles should still be alive; indeed, when I visited my Dad on Cape Cod, I noticed a “Giles E. Threadgold” listed in Falmouth. I think his wife convinced him not to be on the show anymore, from what I heard.
Briefly he had been heard on Howie’s Cape affiliate,
WXTK. If Giles had passed on Howie would have mentioned it.
Dan Kennedy from last August; note his description of
WXTK—this was about Howie’s agent, during his
contract dispute:
“One of Saga’s Maine stations, WGAN (AM 560), carries Carr’s show from 3 to 5 p.m. every weekday. And in the late 1990s, when Pahigian was running a hate radio station on Cape Cod owned by the late auto magnate Ernie Boch, he carried Carr’s show and provided airtime to Carr’s then-sidekick Giles Threadgold.”
My response to the former Phoenix columnist:
“A hate radio station? I didn’t know he worked for Air America :) I looked
at WXTK’s lineup and couldn’t find
Mike Malloy, Ward Churchill, or
Rosie O’Donnell anywhere :) All a
matter of one’s opinion, I guess.”
http://medianation.blogspot.com/2007/08/howies-agent-from-management.html
(listed in the phone book, I mean)
Wed show ping
Both the Herald and Globe have articles about how WRKO was “surprised” to find out (Globe article yesterday)
that Tom Finneran is starting a lobbying firm (first
customer: State Pol. Assoc. of Mass.) Will it compromise
his integrity on the air? Ethical conflict of interest?
Some say that WRKO could use this as an excuse to get rid
of him (lousy ratings), though the Felon claims radio
is now his main occupation and he has a longterm contract.
Then again, he may have violated the contract with this
latest move.
Herald:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1069941
Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/30/finneran_lobbying_is_surprise_to_wrko/
ha!
What integrity?
Hmmm i might just have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch this turd before he get’s canned.
Forbes list is suspect, since they factor in "superfund" sites.
"Superfund" is code for "Don't Kill the Job", so few, if any, of these sites will ever be "clean".
Howie’s Wed. column (it wasn’t on the website before)
Another silver tarnishes Mitt’s campaign
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Another week, another $10 million.
That’s the way it goes for Mitt Romney these days. Every week or 10 days, he’s in front of the best supporters money can buy, trying to put a shine on another very expensive sneaker. Last night’s wake was in St. Petersburg, Fla., which used to be known as God’s waiting room.
“The economy,” he said, “is in my DNA.”
So, apparently, is finishing second.
All these weeks, all these silvers, Mitt has been trying to get it down to a one-on-one, with John McCain. He’s almost there. The only problem is, as the other candidates go by the wayside, they’re ganging up on him. Now Rudy Giuliani withdraws and gets ready to endorse John McCain today.
Four-on-one is Republican fun, unless you’re Mitt.
The Romney people were trying to spin it last night that coming out of Florida the two candidates were numbers 1 and 1-A.
Number 1 got 57 delegates last night.
Number 1-A got zero.
Now it’s the end of January. Mitt has to file his fourth-quarter FEC report, revealing how much of his personal fortune he spent in the last three months of 2007. He was up to $17 million on Sept. 30. The over-under on Mitt’s personal expenditure in the fourth quarter: $18 million.
And Mike Huckabee, the Christian leader who never turns the other cheek to Romney, says in Missouri that he’ll continue to campaign in the snake-handling belt.
“We’re playing all nine innings of this ballgame,” Huckabee said last night in St. Louis.
He’ll drain just enough votes among the Hell-No-We-Ain’t-Fergettin’ crowd to keep the Straight Jacket Express rolling along. His job is to do to Mitt Romney in the Southern states what Fred Thompson did to him in South Carolina.
No wonder McCain blew Huckabee another wet kiss last night. It’s like the Super Bowl quarterback buying rings for his offensive linemen.
Mitt just can’t quite put it together. This was his big shot. He fumbled it away in Iowa and New Hampshire, but Michigan gave him another shot. If Mitt wins last night, McCain’s money dries up. Now every fat-cat in the GOP holds his nose and writes McCain a check. Mitt has to write another personal check for $10 million or $15 million.
But for what? He’s ahead here in Massachusetts, and in Colorado, and . . . that leaves 20 other states.
How many does he have a shot in? With no Giuliani, McCain becomes the prohibitive favorite in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. He was already ahead in California and Arizona.
Mitt looked down last night. His lucky lumberjack shirt was gone, replaced by the traditional business suit. Not a hair of his full Reagan comb-back was out of place. It’s gotta be driving him crazy, the way old man McCain keeps rope-a-doping him, getting outspent by Mitt 3- or 4- or 10-to-1, but still edging him even as the field of candidates contracts. John McCain, who was “left for dead” all those months ago, as the cliche goes.
You knew Mitt was having a bad night when he got a chant going with his crowd and the refrain was, “They haven’t!”
They haven’t, all right. Gotten their money’s worth, that is. The other candidates’ supporters chant “Yes we can!” and “Mac is back!” Mitt’s coatholders yell, “They haven’t!”
The worst thing is, John McCain is the Bob Dole of 2008, and everyone knows it. How come yesterday morning it was Gov. Crist of Florida doing the network liveshots, not Gramps McCain?
Poor Mitt. He’d better win the debate tonight in Simi Valley. Just wing it, forget the consultants. When it comes to delivering, they haven’t.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1069845
show ping
Cruel column . . . but, sadly, true! Can’t we just call this election off for lack of interest and try again in 4 years? (DU’s apparently no happier with the dems running than I am with the pubbies!)
Yes, do we vote for the Democrat liberal or the Republican
liberal?
Howie’s Friday column. Column ping.
Finneran joins ex-pol pals aboard lobbying gravy train
By Howie Carr | Friday, February 1, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Convicted felon Tom Finneran wants to be a lobbyist for the same reason Willie Sutton wanted to rob banks.
Because that’s where the money is.
How can anyone be surprised that the Advil-addled, ethically challenged former House speaker would decide to take a shot at influence-peddling?
He’s lost his law license, he’s lost his state pension, he should be doing a five-year bit at Club Fed, and on the radio he’s not exactly the second coming of Howard Stern, or even Peter Meade.
Hey, Tommy Taxes: don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
The fact that this criminal hack would be hired by the state police union makes the story more amusing, but hardly unexpected. Which is why when he got the radio gig last year and came on my show just after copping a plea, I put him on the spot.
I asked him if he would vow not to do any lobbying as long as he was on the radio. He brushed away the Bible that I had brought into the studio for the occasion and refused to take the no-influence-peddling pledge.
Give The Felon credit. For once in his squalid life, he didn’t lie.
One poster on a radio message board now imagines the Felon’s next monologue on his new clients, the Mass. State Police:
“They are vastly underpaid and grossly overworked. Those ‘paid details’ are what make Massachusetts great! Our troopers deserve your love, admiration and doughnuts.”
But you ask, how can a convicted felon like Finneran be a lobbyist?
Four words: Good Time Charlie Flaherty. He was the House Speaker before the Felon, and he too was convicted of a federal crime: felony tax fraud. According to statements on file with the Secretary of State, in 2007 this prior speaker/convicted felon made $420,500 as a lobbyist.
The bad news for the Felon is, he’ll have to have his mugshot taken when he registers with the Secretary of State. The good news is, it won’t be the first time.
The Felon made his bones during the old political street wars in Boston in the 1970s between Kevin White and Joe Timilty. Some of the survivors of those City Hall shootouts are now grabbing close to a million a year lobbying.
Consider Bobby White, an old Dorchester coatholder, a good pal of Tommy Taxes. (I saw him at the Felon’s sentencing.) Robert White Associates last year reported taking in $811,000. Not bad for a guy who was below even Mumbles Menino on Joe Timilty’s political depth chart.
Then there’s Brian Hickey. Kevin White ran him for the City Council out of Charlestown in 1981. Last year Hickey’s company took in $953,940, paying out salaries of $589,500, including Hickey’s $200,000.
That’s a lot of “accounts,” as the lobybists call their marks.
Finneran sees all this cash flowing to political ham-and-eggers, and it makes him crazy. So he sets up shop with his old law partner, Jimmy “Bunzo” Byrne, the former city councilor from Dorchester.
Look at lobbyist Steve Karol - he used to be a state rep back in the Jurassic era. Now he’s partners with former Sen. Paul White (yet another Dorchester hack). The Karol Group last year took in $1,034,416. White’s salary: $180,000, Karol’s $174,000.
Then there’s ex-Sen. Henri Rauschenbach, aka Kickenbach, a Republican who used to complain (under oath) about how he only made “30 beans” a year in the Legislature. Now I see that his company took in $324,330 last year, of which he paid himself $130,000. And given Kickenbach’s closeness to Senate President Terry Murray, he’ll be rollin’ in beans again this year.
They all have expenses of course. Rauschenbach, for instance, lists donations to 27 state reps, 19 state senators, a sheriff and a clerk of courts who used to be state senators, and one governor. Of course, the lobbyists have figured out a way to minimize their, uh, exposure. They can only give $200 per hack per year, the rest of us can pony up $500.
Imagine if you’re Tommy Taxes. Kickenbach too was indicted - when it comes to lobbying, if you’re indicted, you’re invited. But Kichenbach beat the rap, and it was just a state rap! Why, Kickenbach isn’t even a convicted felon.
So now the Felon becomes a lobbyist . . . for cops. I guess we’ll have a lot more doughnuts around the studio.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1070466
From the Messenger blog in today’s Herald (site); by
Jessica Heslam:
—
As you know, WRKO-AM (680) honchos are looking into whether Tom Finneran’s new lobbying gig will “negatively” impact his role as the news talk station’s morning-drive host.
Julie Kahn, vice president of WRKO owner Entercom, told me today that she and Finneran are having “productive” conversations and she should have a resolution and anouncement next week.
Here’s a lively exchange between Finneran and weekly contributor Wendy Murphy on the former House Speaker’s show earlier today (Thursday).
Murphy: “By the way, I was surprised to see you here, I thought, oh I don’t know, you might be gone.”
Finneran: “Please. Don’t even joke around. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Murphy: “The word is out. You’re trying to make a fortune elsewhere.”
Finneran: “Here’s the word to pay attention to. Multi-year contract. Ok, pal? Pay attention to that.”
Murphy: “The word is out. You’re trying to make a fortune elsewhere.” Finneran: “Here’s the word to pay attention to. Multi-year contract. Ok, pal? Pay attention to that.”
Gee, there’s certainly a lot of “good jobs at good wages” around! How come I can’t get one???? :(
Gee, there’s certainly a lot of “good jobs at good wages” around! How come I can’t get one???? :(
Because you have morals, and they do not!
According to a promo now running on ‘RKO, guess who called in to the Felon’s show recently? The corrupt midget! Kerry
and Kennedy, of course, have also called in to the show
(judging from promos I’ve heard). It’s safe territory.
Safe until the Felon gets the boot
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