He Earned It?

He Earned It?

Joan Vennochi said of Chris Gabrieli, "it's not like someone handed him
millions at birth or through marriage." (Joan Vennochi, "Passing the competence
test," Boston Globe, September 8, 2006) At the panel discussion (some call
it a debate) at Harvard Gabrieli lamented that he had to drop out of medical
school to save the family business, "my family was on the brink of
financial ruin."
In Lisa Wangsness, "Perseverance drives a political ambition," Boston
Globe, May 22, 2006, she states "His aging parents, Hungarian immigrants who
had invested their life's savings in his father's scientific research, were
edging closer to bankruptcy. [...] some financiers agreed to put up some money
-- as long as the young Gabrieli quit medical school and started what became a
medical software business."
Not to negate what he did. But he did not start from nothing. He was
"given" money by backers. He was "given" a business. That is something that
Harvard people must learn early, i.e. how to use other people's money. It is a
matter of degree, but I think that Vennochi uses skewed standards.

--
Roy Bercaw, Editor
ENOUGH ROOM
Cambridge MA USA


Passing the competence test
Boston Globe
By Joan Vennochi
September 8, 2006

CHRIS GABRIELI looked and sounded like he could be the next governor of
Massachusetts.

He was calm, collected, and competent. Indeed, competence, not ideology, was the
heart of Gabrieli's presentation during last night's debate.

That did not work for Michael Dukakis when he was running for president in 1988;
but in 2006 it could be the antidote to 16 years of Republican governors in
Massachusetts.

Deval Patrick is the candidate who would most shake up the Bay State political
establishment; he is a true outsider, and quite obviously not the face of your
father's Democratic Party. Patrick had some fine moments during the debate,
showing flashes of character, grace, and eloquence -- even to the point of
helping his opponent when Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly targeted Gabrieli
for attack. But the question posed by WBUR's Bob Oakes underscores a legitimate,
post-primary concern: Is Patrick too far to the left, too liberal, to win a
general election?

Patrick gave a strong response. ``I'm not running as a label," he said. He
talked about his broad experience in the public and private and non profit
sectors and said the key question should be, ``Can we change the culture on
Beacon Hill?" But fairly or unfairly, this newcomer to the Massachusetts
political scene has less than two weeks to fight the label of tax-and-spend
liberal. And every time he backs away from the positions that won him an adoring
voter base over the past year -- for example, his initial refusal to jump on the
income tax rollback bandwagon -- he jeopardizes that base on primary day.

Responding to the same question, Gabrieli said voters do not care about
Democrats or Republicans, left wing or right wing. What matters, he said, ``is
if someone can do the job . . . if they can ``build a tunnel that doesn't fall
on people's heads."

Mitt Romney promised a version of non ideological competence in 2002, and it
worked well against Democrat Shannon O'Brien. Then Governor Romney got Potomac
Fever, and in his effort to woo Republican primary voters, veered right -- past
the ideological comfort zone of many Massachusetts voters.

But the idea of a competent, non ideological businessman who will make sure the
Big Dig stops falling on our heads still has its appeal.

Reilly, who wasted much too time on attacks, has been trying to turn Gabrieli's
personal fortune into a political albatross. The problem: Gabrieli does not look
or sound like your stereotypical fat-cat millionaire politician. He is a more
than a little geeky and actually appears most human when someone attacks his
hefty bank account. Asked by WCVB's Janet Wu whether he is trying to buy his way
into the governor's office, he listened to the roll out of money he has put
behind various electoral bids and quipped ``sorry" to his wife, who was in the
audience.

Yes, Gabrieli is ``buying" exposure via an onslaught of paid political
advertising. But it's not like someone handed him millions at birth or through
marriage. It turns out he is a smart man who built a wildly successful business.
That is hardly a crime; indeed it is the American dream.

The AG had one good moment. That was when he stood up for the University of
Massachusetts and the notion of investing in the state university system to
promote stem cell research. But Gabrieli had a good rejoinder: investment, he
said, should be based on merit, not politics.

Merit, not politics. Competence, not ideology. That sounds like the language of
electability.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.