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Too late, Governor
By adamg on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 7:49am
OK, so Deval Patrick now regrets calling complaints about Marian Walsh's salary and stuff "trivial," but while Jay Fitzgerald finds that commendable, he adds:
... The thought that cutting Walsh's planned salary will quell the uproar is almost laughable. The damage is already done. Even more laughable is the thought that the permanent bureaucracy hasn't already figured out how to get around wage-freeze demands. ...
The Outraged Liberal is still outraged:
What's still lacking is a solid justification why the job is needed at all after sitting vacant for a dozen years. Or why there needs to be separate agencies with initials and cute names like HEFA and MassDevelopment at all.
What's the difference in the duties that requires two quasi-independent boards with their own hierarchy, power structure and pay scale? If we can eliminate the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, why can't we reduce the number of agencies selling bonds to support economic development? ...
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Comments
When people say something is
When people say something is "trivial" it means they would rather not answer the question fully. The biggest problem here is we have an early supporter of Deval Patrick who happens to have been a political figure in the state house taking a job that has been vacant for over a decade that pays over 100,000 a year and we happen to be in a wild downturn with the state cutting costs and slashing local aid. Any of those factors is not an issue, but when you add the four of them up he needs to explain himself and not dismiss those who dare question him. Maybe he is right, maybe he is wrong but we were promised a different way of doing things and so far it seems to be more of the same.
point made & responded to; move on
There was an understandable hue and cry about the $175k salary. Walsh and Co. responded quickly, agreeing to bring it down to $120k. That's a 30% cut, to what strikes me as being a reasonable salary for an executive level position in state govt.
Let's not lose our sense of perspective on this. This isn't the AIG bonus situation. It was a botch on the part of the Patrick Adm., but continued outrage even after an appropriate response seems like a lot of wasted energy.
Im sorry but the Patrick
Im sorry but the Patrick backers are and were the first ones to jump on people the second they faltered. They promised all this change and reform and then Patrick buys a Caddy to drive around, expensive drapes, he hires his friends to jobs and calls any criticism of that as trivial, he pushes things like the casino project then leaves town the day its being discussed to play author in NYC. If Patrick lost the election to Grabrielly, Reilly or Mihos you know his people would have jumped all over any of those guys if they made the same mistakes.
Why is it only wrong and worth attacking someone over when its not the progressive candidate/politician?
Guess what this is part of running the state. You make mistakes and people give you a hard time about it. Once it starts to show a pattern we should really get on his case about it. He is arrogant, THAT is his number 1 crime , and he has an army of supporters who will shout down anyone who dares criticize him. That sounds like Bush to me.
I agree with some of what you say
As someone who supported Patrick's bid for election, I too have had my disappointments and have expressed some of them here (e.g., his backing of Dianne Wilkerson even after it was clear she was dirty).
I thought the salary for Walsh was high as well. What I'm saying, however, is that the level of outrage is way out of proportion, esp. now that the figure has been reduced to a reasonable level.
Latest on the Marian Walsh situation
Well, fool me once...
I thought we should extend a benefit of the doubt to all parties regarding this appointment, but the Globe's latest paints a much more disappointing picture of the Administration's actions:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art...