Cape Politics

Voodoo Politics. Who do? Reilly do.

Democrat heads are spinning this morning with the news that guberatorial candidate Tom Reilly is going with Marie St. Fleur, a State Rep. from Boston, as a running mate. 

She is Haitian. It's got to be the Voodoo.  

Can't quite figure out the politics on this one.  Maybe Reilly thought running with a black would siphon off support from Deval Patrick, the Democrat running for Governor. Maybe he thought running with a women would close the gender gap with Kerry Healy, the Republican running for Governor. Maybe it was the Voodoo.

Reilly  pissed off a lot of people in the process of his self flagalation, because it wasn't necessary to electing a Democrat.  Candidates for Gov. and Lt. Gov. run seperately in the primary, then run as a team in the general.  It was necessary though to try to save the Reilly ship, overladen with money, from sinking.

He pissed off  all the other candidates running for Lt. Gov. and their supporters.

• Tim Murray, Mayor of Worcester, a white Irish Catholic man and all his buddies from Worcester County.  
• Andrea Silbert, a white suburban working mother. 
• Debra Goldberg, a Jewish feminst from Brookline and even
• Sam Kelley, a shrink from the South Shore who won't even survive the Convention. 

It must have been the voodoo. 

Maybe this is his idea of affirmative action.  But why St. Fleur? Wasn't Dianne Wilkerson available?  It was the voodoo.

Which way will Christy run? Reilly pick 2nd. running mate this week

Yarmouth's Republican merchant prince Christy Mihos has a tough decision to make in the next few days:

• Run as a Republican against Kerry Healey - "I'm not going to be shut out by establishment Republicans or people who want to pass this job off like former Governor Paul Cellucci did last time'' or,
• Run as an Independent against Healey and the Democratic nominee with Peter Blute as his running mate - "I would like to run as a Republican, but we still have to keep all our options open until we can verify that we can make the ballot on our own."

As the political blog Blue Mass. Group mused today "Christy Mihos, while an unquestionably interesting guy who will liven up the Governor's race substantially, can't win. He's too much of a loose cannon who will say or do enough outrageous things in the course of the campaign that too many people will be really, really nervous about installing him on Beacon Hill.  Even considering Peter Blute as his candidate for Lieutenant Governor is an excellent step down that road.... Those of you who are new to these parts may not remember the name of Peter Blute. But long-termers will remember that back in 1999, Blute - who at the time was the Director of Massport - managed to disgrace both himself and the entire administration of then-Governor Paul Cellucci by using Massport money to fund a Boston Harbor booze cruise (photo on right), which ended with one of the female passengers (named Gidget, appropriately enough) deciding it would be a good idea to flash her breasts to the Herald photographer waiting on shore. Which led to this now-infamous photograph being etched into the memories of all Massachusetts political junkies..." Read the rest of the Blue Mass. Group blog here.

Imagine a Patrick vs. Mihos campaign 

As a local political observer commented to us this morning, " Reilly's an idiot, Healey's a fool, so a race between Patrick and Mihos  would at least be two articulate and intelligent debating the state's future in a rational and informed way." Mihos has been talking to men who ran successfully as Independents in other states, and Massachusetts "Independents" make up 48% of our registered voters, but most of them are really crypto-Democrats who like to vote in which ever primary is more interesting but return to the fold every November.

SIDEBAR: Isn't it amazing how often Cape Pols can't feel the way the political wind is blowing?

• Item One: State Senator Rob O'Leary holding fund raiser for A.G. Tom Reilly who everyone but O'Leary knows is a complete screw-up who has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory a week before the caucuses. How many candidates for guv have chosen two different running mates in as many day? One would think a well coiffed academician like O'Leary would be attracted to an obviously learned, brilliant new candidate like Deval Patrick instead of an old Beacon Hill hack. But maybe that's what our senator has become himself. In the July '04 Barnstable Patriot photo on right O'Leary is surrounded by Kennedy, Turkington, Atsalis and Delahunt.
  
• Item Two: But it gets worse. Of all local Democrat pols on record, only State Representatives Cleon Turner and Matt Patrick have had the courage to endorse Patrick ahead of the caucuses and convention.
  
  But no one in the Republican camps has had the guts to buck the party machine and endorse a scrapper like Christy Mihos against Kerry Healey whose only qualifictions seem to be she looks better in a dress than Christy and has great legs.
  
  Maybe Blute can get Gidget (see photo above) "back aboard", as they say out in Boston Harbor.

But it gets curiouser and couriouser - Now "Runabout" Reilly has chosen State Rep. Marie St. Fleur a black woman as his running mate, er, mistress, or whatever, see the Globe story here. She represents several precincts in Boston.

Oh, I get it ! She's black so Reilly can beat Deval Patrick, and she's a woman so he can beat Kerry Healey.

Reilly turned to St. Fleur who only last week was quoted as saying she would not run for the Lt. Guv slot because she had already committed to Deborah Goldberg, a former Brookline selectwoman who has already announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor

There are three other candiadtes running for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket this Fall as well They include:

• Worcester Mayor Tim Murray, who lambasted Reilly last week when word of the Gabrieli negotiations leaked. Murray complained that the attorney general was reneging on a commitment to let the lieutenant governor's race sort itself out, without intervention by one of the gubernatorial candidates.
• Deborah Goldberg, a former Brookline selectwoman
• Andrea Silbert of Harwich, co-founder of the Center for Women & Enterprise, and
•  Sam Kelley, a Cohasset psychiatrist.

WOW ! With thinking like that, why wouldn't we all want "Rocky" Reilly as our leader on Beacon Hill. Heck, he already has a parking place reserved there, so that's another reason to vote for him. And when voters in Middle-Massachusetts consider their choices, they'll start viewing Deval as "The White Man's Hope". 

The Reilly Factor

Magic Marker to the rescue
Since Mr. Gabrieli is a very rich man (why do you think two Beacon Hill Pols like O'Brien and Reilly picked him), we know he'll be smart enough to recycle all those posters from his unsuccessful run for Lt. Guv in 2002.  All it will take is a big enough Magic Maker and VIOLA! , new campaign poster for 2006.

As Frank Skeffington muses in today's Blue Mass. Group blog, "...On the point of money, not only does Reilly have $3.6 million in the bank, but he proved he knows how to raise it, by raising $2 million last year. Certainly he has the capability of raising at least $3 million this election year. So that positions him with about $8.5 million to run a primary and general election campaign in MA. Plenty, given that the highest price tags I’ve heard are in the $5 to 6 million range.

"So does he want to go the easy route and have Gabrieli write a check and not worry about fundraising? Again, other folks have written about how far Gabrieli’s money brought him in the past (0 for 2). While he obviously has a talent for venture capitalism and is a thoughtful policy wonk, he brings nothing to the ticket—except money. Money that Reilly has proven he can find elsewhere. 

"Reilly is already going to get swamped in the caucuses next week and if he keeps stumbling as he has been doing (THE phone call, flip flopping on Capital Punishment, ignoring the activists) he is giving pause to a lot of neutral players in the party (labor in particular who, as I read the tealeaves, tolerate him but certainly don’t love him…I mean who, aside from paid employees in his office, really love Tom Reilly’s quest for the Corner Office.) " Read the rest of Blue Mass. Group here, and comment below.

And in today's Standard-Times:
Candidate raps Reilly
Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick is sharpening his criticism of his front-running Democratic opponent, Attorney General Tom Reilly.

Mr. Patrick had refrained from attacking Mr. Reilly during earlier visits to the city, but yesterday made a few pointed comments at a meeting with Democratic activists and area residents in New Bedford.

Mr. Patrick, a former Clinton administration official, compared the positions of Mr. Reilly, who supports rolling back the state tax rate to 5 percent, to those of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney.

"What I'm trying to sort out, frankly, is whether there is any difference at all between the fiscal policies of the current administration and the fiscal proposals of my Democratic competitor," said Mr. Patrick, who does not support a tax rollback at this time. "I don't see any difference at all...

Read the of the  story Standard-Times rest here, and comment below.

Channel 12 WPRI in Providence had this take on Reilly's move:
Lieutenant governor candidate cries foul
The mayor of Worcester accuses Attorney General Tom Reilly of breaking a promise to him and other lieutenant governor candidates.

Reilly -- a Democratic candidate for governor -- is courting wealthy businessman Chris Gabrieli to be his running mate.

Mayor Timothy Murray says Reilly previously told him he would let the lieutenant governor's field sort itself out through the primary process.

Murray says teaming up with Gabrieli, who has yet to enter the race, would give the investment banker an unfair advantage.

Gabrieli lost a congressional bid in 1998 and failed in a campaign for lieutenant governor in 2002... Read the rest of the WPRI report here.

Ballgame

Violating all sorts of political protocol, he has been preparing to choose a running mate.

Never mind that it doesn't work that way, or that there are 4 announced candidates for the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, Reilly reportedly asked Chris Gabrielli to join the ticket. Gabrielli is not even one of the announced candidates.  And Gabrielli lost 4 years ago running for the same office while spending $3million of his own money. Does anyone have a better definition of a loser?

Reilly's timing couldn't be worse. The news comes out 1 week before the Democratic caucuses that will select delegates to the nominating convention. Next Saturday all of the declared candidates for Lt. Governor will have their supporters go to the caucuses to try to get themselves to the convention to vote for their candidate. What are the chances that  Silbert, or Murray supporters will vote for Reilly delegates at the caucuses now?

14 months ago I wrote a blog about the public ineptitude that Tom Reilly exhibited at the the Cape Wind hearing in Yarmouth, " Looking for the Men's Room".  Reilly either has the political deftness of Generalisimo Fransisco Franco, or he's being served poorly by his campaign staff.

No matter, it shows bad judgement and  poor management.  As the perceived frontrunner in the race with the most money, there will eventually be a campaign shake-up. But it won't make a difference because the real problem is the candidate.

Reilly's error isn't as tragic to Red Sox nation as Bill Buckner's was. But it will still cost him the ballgame.

See previous column:  " Looking for the Men's Room".

Bush breaks up over Brokeback Mountain

Our President seemed a tad flustered when asked yesterday if he's seen the hit film about cowboy love. During an appearance at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, the president was asked for his opinion by a student.

"You're a rancher, a lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers," the student said. "I just wanted to get your opinion. … (if) you had seen it yet. You would love it. You should check it out."

The question got a laugh from the audience, and Mr. Bush responded, "I haven't seen it. I'd be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie."

The audience laughed again.

"I've heard about it. I hope you go, ahh, you know…," then he paused, and chuckled along with the audience. "I hope you go back to the ranch and the farm, is what I was about to say."

See the CBS story here, and watch the video by scrolling down to the link, and leave your comment below. 

Reilly's Political Family

Shuana and Meghan Murphy’s deaths are a tragedy to be sure. A Southborough family lost two teenage daughters in a car crash in October 2005.  The reverberations of which are being felt throughout the Commonwealth today, because a candidate for governor attempted to do the politically expedient thing.

There appears to have been a fundraiser in Southborough for gubenatorial candidate and Attorney General Tom Reilly, back in June of 2005. A lot of people who are or want to be well connected, contributed up to $500 to meet the AG. Southborough and its neighboring town Northborough, where the accident occurred, are suburbs along Route 495, where the well heeled who work in the city, live and raise their kids.

Although their business is in Boston, their politics are in Worcester County. This is a city that the AG needs to win to be nominated and elected Governor.

He would like to have the Mayor of the Worcester supporting him, which maybe he did. Tim Murray contributed to him last year, before Murray himself jumped in the race for Lt. Governor.  Being a former DA, Reilly has leaned on the DAs across the state for their support, some of whom he knows well, like the Worcester DA, John Conte.

Money talks,  Reilly calls 

Back to the point. At these fundraisers, candidates meet with potential supporters, ostensibly friends of donors. There is a hierarchy of political giving, at the top of which are the guys who raise money for the candidate by inviting their friends to contribute. And Southborough is typical. On the very same street, there are several major contributors to Tom Reilly.

Reilly has admitted to doing one of them, Chris Murphy, a favor, by calling the DA in Worcester to withhold the release of information in the drunk driving deaths of his daughters.

But the likelihood is that Reilly, sensing the loss to not just one family, but "his political family", took the call from either Bob Davis, or Joe Shay both next door neighbors of Murphy, both major contributors and both scions of the Boston business establishment, and followed up by making a political call on their behalf to the DA.

How did a simple plea to spare the Murphy family further pain turn into a political favor? This son of Springfield needs to win an election, and this is how it works.

On a purely political level, the AG should not have made the call himself. That’s what campaign staff is for.  Or better yet, no one should have made the call at all.

Despite his protests of good intentions, his actions reveal the most base of instincts in the AG. He was attempting to serve and protect his political family by using his position as the Commonwealth’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer.

Can he differentiate between responding to a request from a friend and a political favor for a donor? The question goes not only to Tom Reilly’s political, but his professional judgment.

• Hub Politics "cover-up" story
• Today's Globe story (the photo above, left is from today's story)
• Read today's Daily News story
  

Ted Kennedy's New Year's Resolution

Cape Cod Not For Sale

The Canal Electric Station in Sandwich generates almost all of the electricity consumed on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.

On cold days, the plant generates a prominent plume —but it is the emissions you can’t see that degrade local air and water quality and contribute to public health and climate change risks. 

The Canal plant generates electricity mostly by burning No. 6 fuel oil, which is supplied by barges traveling through the region and into Buzzards Bay.

The plant can generate up to 1120 megawatts (MW) of electricity, while average electricity demand by consumers in the Cape & Islands region is about 230 MW. Because there are no other large power plants within the region and a limited number of smaller, distributed generation systems, nearly all of the electricity consumed on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket is supplied by the Canal plant.

For each hour of every day, average demand by Cape & Islands electricity consumers accounts for the release of more than 3000 lbs of pollutants by the Canal plant. These emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (S02), and other chemicals degrade local air and water quality, and they contribute to public health risks.

Harmful emissions from power plants in Massachusetts have been linked statistically to increases in respiratory illnesses, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and premature deaths.

For each hour of every day, average demand by Cape & Islands electricity consumers accounts for more than 200 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the Canal plant. Local communities are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change caused by rising atmospheric concentrations of GHGs.

The Canal plant could significantly reduce its emissions of harmful pollutants or GHGs by switching to lower-sulfur fuel oil or increasing its use of natural gas. Mirant LLC, the plant’s owner, is resisting calls to switch to cleaner but more expensive fuels. It is also challenging state mandates to reduce its emissions.

See Cape and Islands Information Clearinghouse.