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A couple Januaries ago, the first African-American governor of Massachusetts took the oath of office on the State House steps. "Change is not always comfortable or convenient or welcome," he declared. "But it is what we hoped for, what we have worked for, what you voted for, and what you shall have." The swearing-in ended an improbable journey for Deval Patrick -- and started a painful lesson in political realities for a rookie executive. His story provides a useful prism to view the current presidential race. The Patrick campaign is the model for Barack Obama's effort, down to the messages...

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts state treasurer has asked the federal government about lending the state money under the same favorable terms given to banks and investment firms during the financial crisis. Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill’s requests last week to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston were prompted by the state’s inability to borrow from the short-term debt markets, The Boston Globe reported on Saturday. The financial turmoil has caused credit markets to stop lending, or to charge prohibitive rates. California has made a similar request, saying it will run out of money by the end...

BOSTON (AP) -- The treasurer of Massachusetts has asked the federal government about lending Massachusetts money under the same favorable terms it has given banks and firms during the financial crisis. Treasurer Timothy Cahill's requests to the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston this week were prompted by the state's inability to borrow from the short-term debt markets, The Boston Globe reported Saturday. The financial turmoil has caused credit markets to stop lending, or to charge prohibitive rates. California has made a similar request, saying it would run out of money by the end of the month if...

Howie thread beginning with his Sunday Herald column

BOSTON -- The gay marriage fight in Massachusetts might not be over after all. Opponents of same-sex marriages are seeking a ballot question that would prevent gay and lesbian couples from getting married here if their union wouldn't be legal in their home state. Brian Camenker of the group Mass Resistance said Friday lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick bowed to the will of the "gay lobby" last month by approving the repeal of a 1913 statute that banned such marriages. Patrick, the state's first black governor and the father of a daughter who recently announced she's a lesbian, said the...

About 850 people attended the fund-raiser, which cost between $1,000 and $4,600 per ticket. Among those, 250 also ate dinner with Obama - for $15,000 per ticket or $28,500 per couple. Guests began dinner with heaping helpings of field greens, heirloom lettuces, candied hazelnuts and port-soaked currants tossed with a sherry Dijon vinaigrette. The main course: cinnamon-and-red-wine-braised short ribs and roasted porcini-crusted sea bass, plus a trio of potato confit, and hand-rolled gnocchi with wild mushrooms and a vegetable bouquet. Guests washed down that sumptuous repast with a perky 2004 Cloudy Bay Sauvingnon Blanc “Te Koko” and an impertinent 2004...

I don’t own the word “moonbat,” but I have had custody of it for a good long while now, and there are a couple of misconceptions I’d like to clear up. First, a moonbat is not something you want to be, even in Arlington, where they have begun selling T-shirts that say, “Menotomy Moonbats.” Hey moonbats, lose the bat logo. Truth in advertising requires you to put on the front of your moonbat shirts a photo of Sen. Jim Marzilli, your hero, the perv in a Prius, with these words underneath: “Sen. Marzilli Groped Me and All I Got Was...

Surrounded by cheering, clapping gay-rights activists and legislators, Governor Deval Patrick today signed a bill repealing a 95-year-old statute that had prevented gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts. "It's a good day," said Patrick, declaring that the repeal will "confirm a simple truth: that is, in Massachusetts, equal means equal." Massachusetts will "continue to lead the way as a national leader" and affirm "all people come before their government as equals," Patrick said in a bill-signing ceremony at the State House's Grand Staircase. Gay marriage "is still troubling for some of our citizens," he...

Sweet P Farm is nestled at the top of a winding driveway, hidden from view by 77 acres of gentle woods and meadows, a retreat in the Berkshires where Governor Deval Patrick can swat a few tennis balls on his private court, work on a chapter of his memoir, or stroll through the wildflowers in his backyard. But during this year's high summer season, Patrick is opening his rural getaway to the Massachusetts political world, transforming it into something like the state's own version of Camp David. The governor hosted a big ticket fund-raiser at the home last week that...

The Massachusetts Senate today passed a bill that would repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts. The bill, which had the support of Senate President Therese Murray, passed with no objections on a voice vote. Proponents of the repeal called the 1913 law archaic and discriminatory. "There are very few laws on the books that I can say that I'm ashamed that they're on the books," said State Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. He said he opposed the law because of the "immorality of discrimination." "This...

Governor Deval Patrick has scheduled a picnic fund-raiser this month at his vacation estate in the Berkshires, where he will once again exploit a method he pioneered for skirting state campaign contribution limits, a funding system the Legislature so far has declined to shut down. Guests at the gathering at the 7,500-square-foot mansion situated on 77 acres in Richmond are being asked to contribute up to $5,500 to the governor's Seventy-First Fund. The fund - as the formal invitation to the soiree explains - divides the contributions between Patrick's campaign and the state Democratic Party

July 14, 2008 Dear GOAL members and friends, This requires our immediate action. We urge you to contact your State Representative and Senator and ask that they not support the Governor's Appropriations Bill. On Sunday July, 13, 2008 Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick filed a special appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. (As of the filing of this report, the bill had not yet received a number.) Within this bill sections 24 - 27 drastically increase certain firearm licenses. Sections 24 & 25 attack lawfully licensed firearm dealers by increasing their license fees from $100 for three years to $250. Then...

Signaling a potential state money meltdown, Gov. Deval Patrick is asking lawmakers to grant him extraordinary budget-slashing power to make emergency cuts if the economy takes another turn for the worse. In addition to bracing for the effects of the shaky stock market, state officials are working furiously to secure a Medicaid reimbursement for the state’s new Universal Health Care Law worth hundreds of millions in federal dollars. “It’s an ugly scene to say the least,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Patrick vetoed $122.5 million from the pork-packed budget yesterday, but financial watchdogs say the reduction...

BOSTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Massachusetts lawmakers say they are preparing to vote on whether to repeal a 1913 law that bans out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in the state. Lawmakers say they expect the state Senate to take up the law Tuesday and the state House to do the same soon after. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray back the repeal, but their support alone may not be enough to secure other lawmakers' votes, The Boston Globe reported Thursday. Supporters of gay marriage rights say they are optimistic the repeal will be approved because of...

State lawmakers are expected to vote next week on repealing a 1913 law that prevents out-of-state gay and lesbian couples from getting married in Massachusetts, reigniting a divisive debate on an issue that has stirred passions and put the state in the national spotlight. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation Tuesday, and the House will follow shortly afterward, according to several lawmakers. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray favor the repeal, but their support on such a hot-button social issue does not guarantee that rank-and-file lawmakers will follow. Advocates of same-sex marriage rights...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a $1 billion embryonic stem cell research bill on Monday. The measure is meant to provide the controversial research with more taxpayer money after President Bush refused to force taxpayers to fund the destruction of human life. Patrick pushed the plan through the state legislature to force the state's taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research to the tune of $1 billion over 10 years.He said he wanted the northeastern state to keep up with others like California, Illinois, and neighboring Connecticut, which have publicly funded the grisly research.   Under his plan, the state would...

Deval Patrick has been in the headlines for misuse of State Police helicopters for personal transportation. He has also been in the news lately for trying to impose a sales tax on aircraft used by his subjects. I learned today that Patrick has been shopping for a private jet to be paid for by the taxpayers. Patrick has his eye on an $11 million Lear 45. Deval Patrick was elected governor of a state that can be traversed north-south in about 1 hour by car and east-west in less than 2 hours. Why would he need a transcontinental private jet?...

I know it's Monday morning, but I'm finding it hard to get my bearings today. We, here in Massachusetts, were assured by electing Mr. Together-We-Can Deval Patrick governor, we be enjoying a new day. However, our days are a nightmare. Deval Patrick was the one who came into office claiming our state was in a bad financial situation. Yet, the independently wealthy Deval didn't forgo his salary like Mitt Romney and Kerry Healey did when they took office. Instead, he upgraded his car, started accumulating frequent flier miles on a state police helicopter, got his wife an unnecessary chief of...

With the news of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s $1 billion initiative to “woo” biotech businesses to The Bay State, not all are blindly cheering. State Representative candidate Bob Parks (R) of the 2nd Franklin District is suspicious of the governor’s motives. “Two years ago, I suggested our district apply directly to HUD and receive Empowerment Zone status. This would enable existing businesses here to grow and hire more people, while luring others. The difference between my plan and Governor Patrick’s is that it doesn’t require taxpayers to foot the bill, and my plan isn’t discriminatory, giving preference to one business...

BOSTON — The youngest daughter of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in an interview published Thursday that she's gay, and came out to her parents after lawmakers voted to kill a proposal that could have outlawed gay marriage in the state. Katherine Patrick said her father responded to her announcement by giving her a bear hug and saying: "Well, we love you no matter what." She made her revelation public in an interview with her family published Thursday in Bay Windows, a weekly Boston newspaper aimed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. The governor told the paper his...