Replies

Fri column ping. btw yesterday Howie said if you want a good book about Chicago politics, focusing on Mayor Daley (the
first one), check out “Boss” by the late Mike Royko. Actually I did wind up borrowing a copy of that from the library
the other day, and am almost done with it.

South Boston hacks cash in on conventional wisdom
By Howie Carr | Friday, December 12, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Did someone say “nationwide search”?

Today the Hack Hotline peruses the latest public payroll to be posted on the Herald Web site - that of the Mass. Convention Center Authority (MCCA).

The executive director of the MCCA is Jim Rooney, who makes a mere $369,292 a year. Thank God he doesn’t have to survive just on that, though - he also collects a $70,000 annual pension from the MBTA, where he put in his “full” 23 years before retiring.

There are three other Rooneys on the MCCA payroll, but surprisingly, only one of them is Rooney’s brother. That would be Joe Rooney, a maintenance systems manager making $70,609 a year. When Joe Rooney was hired by the MCCA in May 2004, his brother Jim was not the executive director - he was the acting executive director.

Whew, that’s a load off.

The MCCA flack e-mailed me: “Please note that Joe Rooney is a brain injury survivor . . . There are two management levels between Joe Rooney and the Executive Director.”

The MCCA has always been a Southie hackerama, and the congressman from Southie is Steve Lynch. Lynch used to have an aide named Fred Peterson. Would you care to guess where Fred Peterson is now employed? That’s right. He is the “deputy coo,” whatever that means, for $119,467. Well, coo-coo-ka-choo.

The only mayor ever to come from South Boston was Ray Flynn, and he used to have a coatholder named Ken Sinkiewicz. Kenny migrated from City Hall and now makes $143,276 a year as “deputy director.”

The current mayor is Mumbles Menino, and his top political aide is one Mike Kineavy, who made $141,778.89 last year. Mike’s 70-something mom Ann is on the MCCA payroll as a “guest services associate.” Only made $2,208.97, which ain’t much, obviously, but any port in a storm, right, Ma?

Listed on the MCCA payroll, but apparently no longer employed there, is one Pauline Bare. Her husband Michael Bare is on the MBTA payroll. So I looked him up to check his salary ($74,500.10) and - surprise, surprise - guess who else I saw on the T with that same last name? None other than Pauline Bare, for $45,890.

Michael Bare is best known around Southie for driving a sign truck for City Councilor Mike Flaherty in election years. Back in 2006, that truck was festooned with Kerry Healey signs, which seems only right, considering how GOP governors appointed Baby Flats’ dad (an ex-solon) to a judgeship and his sister to the clerkship of the South Boston District Court.

You can check out the MCCA payroll yourself at bostonherald.com. It’s under, “Your Tax Dollars at Work,” although a more accurate description might be, “Your Tax Dollars at Play.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1138524