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
from http://www.bostonradiowatch.com:
by Mark Schnyder-—
Tai unplugged : As noted here in previous update, a Boston radio vet Tom “Tai” Irwin who had worked at WFNX 101.7FM, WRKO AM 680, WZLX 100.7FM and WROR 105.7FM over two decades, wrote an opinion piece on his Boston Herald blog called “Tai-Rade” openly criticizing the newspaper’s longtime columnist and WRKO AM 680’s talk show host Howie Carr. Irwin even offered to be Carr’s replacement…for free.
With the Herald’s circulation falling fast and WRKO’s ratings declining even faster, there is probably very little doubt as to who won the battle of profits vs. free speech in this case. Yesterday(4/28), The Herald shut down his blog on its site which he wrote over the past four years. Irwin distributed the following e-mail to Boston media earlier tonight:
“I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who contributed to and read my blog The Tai-rade on the Boston Herald’s website for the last four + years. It was taken offline yesterday (Soviet style) after I continued to focus on the challenges facing media companies who refuse to deal with the present, and are afraid of the future.
“I chose to launch into a Tai-rade against Howie Carr because he is a symptom of the disease - big name talent in a game of shrinking revenues. Along the way I talked layoffs and tough decisions that have to be made when drastic troubles hit the economic landscape. I was warned not to keep picking at the scab of lowered circulation and such, but as the contrarian I am, went ahead and they pulled the plug. The focus of my energy was confronting new media reality, but as it was contained on the Herald website, they thought it was a kick in the eye. Perhaps the fact is that I now must take the Tai-rade out on my own, and make sure it remains independent. Let me be clear about this: the Herald remains a favorite of mine, and I believe an essential force in Boston media. I’ve always loved reading it daily. My admiration for Pat Purcell is as strong as ever, and if in his position - I would have censored the blog as well. Just human nature to try to stamp out unpleasantness if you can. Still won’t change the reality of the decline of the American newspaper. The Tai-rade will be back.”