Posted on 04/26/2008 10:04:58 PM PDT by raccoonradio
Howie Carr live thread for the week starting off with his Sunday Herald column
Money they’re raking at jail just criminal
By Howie Carr | Sunday, April 27, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Another day, another hack-infested public payroll. So come on down, Andrea Cabral, the High Sheriff of Suffolk County.
The High Sheriff, another of ex-Gov. Jane Swift’s brilliant appointments, survived a photo finish with a federal grand jury. Since then, it’s apparently been party time down at the jail.
An overtime party.
I’m not saying things are out of control over there, but the High Sheriff is only the 10th highest paid person on her own payroll, at $123,937.02 last year.
The excuse is that they have to pay all this OT because they don’t have enough people. Maybe, but whatever the reason, the jail payroll has become yet another mega-mammary. Let’s go straight to the list.
There’s a new state rep in East Boston, Carlo Basile. At No. 12 on the sheriff’s payroll is one Alessandro Basile, brother of the rookie rep. Base pay: $68,539 a year. With overtime last year: $122,074.61.
It’s a family affair at the trough in Eastie, isn’t it? First it was Sen. Bobby Trav’s brother Michael making over 300 large with the treasurer. Then there’s Trav’s successor, Tony Petrucelli - his electrician dad, who also made 300 grand at the Pike one year. And now the new rep’s brother, too, is reeling in the big bucks.
Back in 1988, a wannabe named Greg Haugh ran for an open state rep’s seat in West Roxbury against Maid Marian Walsh. She won narrowly and Greg soon made a soft landing on the sheriff’s payroll. He worked for rotund Richie Rouse, running Ward 20 for him. As a “chief jail officer,” Haugh last year made $89,456.05 with overtime, while the woman who prevented him from becoming a solon had to settle for about $65,000. So you tell me, who really won the state rep’s race in Westie in 1988?
Not so fortunate was Matt O’Malley, longtime Cabral coatholder. He ran for City Council, lost, returned to the county trough as “assistant deputy jailer” and now makes a mere $62,551.40 a year. By present hack standards, that ain’t much. He must have screwed up a coffee order or two.
Going through these payrolls is like a geological dig. You find layers from long-forgotten eras, which brings us to this next crew, from the White Period, as in former Mayor Kevin White. Kevin’s ward boss out in Hyde Park was a guy named Gerard Horgan.
Now we have on the county payroll one Gerard Horgan Jr., making $117,145.29 a year. Horgan is married to the lovely Irene Daley-Horgan, who works at . . . you guessed it: She’s a “management assistant” for $63,704.94 a year, including overtime.
So many of these names seem familiar. Correctional officer James Tobin at $79,659.74 with OT. . . . say, isn’t there a John Tobin on the City Council?
Andrea herself came over to the jail on waivers from the office of then-Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin. And so it was only proper and fitting that she pick up a bunch of Ralphies in his going-out-of-business sale.
For instance, Andrea’s “special sheriff” is one Anne Powers, another former assistant district attorney. This Powers makes $120,071 a year. For those of you keeping score at home, that works out to $2,309.07 a week.
Another Ralphie who had a soft landing: Elizabeth Conroy, an “assistant deputy jailer” for $81,595.67. She also used to work for former AG Luther S. Harshbarger, and when Andrea was running for a full term against City Councilor Steve Murphy, would you care to guess who Luther endorsed?
Another Cabral favorite: Steve Tompkins, her flack. His take is $117,145.29, or $2,252.79 a week.
The word is, Cabral wouldn’t mind early retirement. There is no softer job on earth than being a Massachusetts judge - just ask the woman who defeated Greg Haugh in 1988. A judgeship is what Maid Marian, too, is holding out for.
Hey, High Sheriff Cabral, if you’re really interested in obtaining a judgeship from Deval Patrick, do it the old-fashioned way. Every judgeship in this state has a sign on it, and those signs say “For Sale.”
So take out your checkbook and next to “Pay to the Order of,” write the following words:
Barack Obama for President.
Works every time, guaranteed.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1089942
Howie back today?
He should be back!
And yup, vote for Howie at Radio hall of Fame site
starting May 1
http://www.museum.tv/rhofsection.php?page=448
Monday ping
Afternoon Everybody!
Miley’s pix...Clemens affair...and more on Rev Wright
(calls Italians garlic noses) etc...”wrecking Barack’s
campaign and does not seem to care”
No MAX today, he’s stuck at LAX...(I think that’s what Howie said)
In some ways, a black president would take away part of the racism charge, making race hustlers less viable.
Wright is just protecting his shakedown industry.
>>a black president would take away part of the racism charge, making race hustlers less viable.
Caller just on, “Bill”, said same thing
I'll probably just hang around for Chumps
A guy called Dennis Miller today, asking for advice on a will...cohort Sal asks for any AFL trading cards...”You can have my autographed Clemens card”....Miller retorts that the value of that has dropped quite far as of late.
Did anyone hear Howie’s interview last night with the authors of the book on
Jerry Williams, Tolz and Elman? They played a clip where Charles Laquidara pranked
Jerry on air by asking why raisins weren’t allowed in stores. “Listen,” replied Jerry,
“they don’t want to have any nuts either.” One of the two guys admitted to
working for Charles on the side and said he was the voice of Duane Glasscock’s dog Yoop.
Tue ping
Yes! I heard that particular part of Howie’s show, that was priceless, shows what a quick wit Jerry had! Jerry would be horrified at what’s going on with RKO these days.
Hey rock! how ya doin these days?
Obama is SOOOOOOOOOo much toast, that he set off the smoke alarms!
Barok’s career of public service= career of HACKDOM!!!!!
Boston radio ratings are in...
in the hot 25-54 demo, Finneran is in last (among the
16 stations listed). Rush and Reese also not doing well, and...
Howie is dead last in the 15 or so stations listed. He is getting beat by Jay...
AFTERNOON DRIVE (25 to 54):
1. Glenn Ordway on WEEI-AM (850) with a 7.5 share.
2. KISS 108 FM with a 7.1.
3. JAM’N 94.5 FM with a 5.9.
4. MAGIC 106.7 FM with a 5.2.
5. Jay Severin on WTKK-FM (96.9) with a 5.1.
6. WBMX/4.0 share.
7. WBZ-AM (1030) news radio with a 3.9.
8. WZLX with a 3.8.
9. MIKE FM 93.7 with a 3.6 share.
10. WODS/3.4.
11. WKLB/3.3
12. Howie Carr on WRKO-AM (680) with a 3.0
Yikes!
Check out these ratings for what would have been Howie’s
time slot on WTKK had it not been for the contract
debacle...
MORNING DRIVE (25 TO 54):
10. Don Imus on WTKK-FM (96.9) with a 3.5.
16. Tom Finneran on WRKO-AM (680)...had a 1.l share
(Corpse in a cowboy hat gets over three times as many
listeners as the Felon)
Wed ping and column
For Sal, it’s 3 mortgages and you’re $truck out
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com
House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s top three gripes:
3. Writing the monthly check for the first mortgage on his condo in the North End.
2. Writing the monthly check for the second mortgage on his condo.
1. Writing the monthly check for the third mortgage on his condo.
Three mortgages, Sal? Three, on one crummy Commericial Street condo? How many more, Mr. Speaker? How many more mortgages can you saddle yourself with?
No wonder Sal wanted to play a round or two of golf on the arm the last time he was in Florida. Those greens fees can really kill you, at least when you’re paying three mortgages - on one place. He was looking forward to playing 18 holes with Donald Trump in Palm Beach. Apparently, nobody wanted to tell Sal that most of the guys parking cars for The Donald at Mar-a-Lago have healthier-looking balance sheets than he does.
But now that we know about the three mortgages, it’s a real mystery why Sal can’t seem to get along with Gov. Deval Patrick. If anyone understands the onerous nature of mortgages, it’s Coupe Deval. He’s got a monthly nut of probably $28,000. The difference is, when Deval’s is paid off, he owns a mansion in the Berkshires. Sal will just have his condo in Ward 3.
Actually, there’s another difference between the financial straits of the two head hacks. Deval won’t have to pay back his $1.35 million book advance. Sal is on the hook for one . . . two . . . three mortgages.
Good Time Charlie Flaherty and Felon Finneran feel Sal’s pain. They know they’re just picking on you, just because the last two speakers have gone down on federal felony raps. It’s political profiling.
Sal says one of the reasons he needs all these mortgages is that he was trying to get more money out of his law firm. Let’s face it, the supply of gangsters has dried up, and it affected Sal’s practice.
Poor Sal, last night was the filing deadline for candidates for the state Legislature. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but it’s safe to say that, as usual, the vast majority of his sheeple - I mean, members - will be running unopposed, both in the primary and general elections.
It’s party time, in other words. Like Easter, Cinco de Mayo has come early this year to the State House.
But Senor Sal can’t kick back because he now finds himself in a bit of a pickle. For months, he’s had to dodge spitballs from the newspapers, like the free golf story. He gave a grant to a festival an aide had an interest in, had hacks “phantom voting,” “steered” a state contract to a company. Feel free to yawn.
Now, however, he’s suddenly bleeding. It seems that Sal’s accountant, one Richard Vitale, has been accepting money from ticket-scalpers - I mean brokers - who were trying to get a bill through the Legislature to basically give them a free ride. This accountant who met in a gin mill in Kenmore Square with the ticket “brokers” would be the same accountant who has given Mr. Speaker the third mortgage on his condominium.
That’s an all-service accounting firm. They do your taxes, loan you money on what amounts to an unsecured note, and they lobby - excuse me, “strategize” - for ticket scalpers, er brokers.
Now, Vitale has been ordered to register as a lobbyist by the Secretary of State. Bad enough he has to pony up a grand as an entry fee, you might say, and then walk across the street to get his official lobbyist mugshot taken. But it gets worse. Vitale’s in a Catch-22 situation. If he doesn’t register, he’s violated the law. If he registers, then he’s violated the law by loaning all the dough to Mr. Speaker.
Do you think Sal will need a fourth mortgage before this is all over?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1090661
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