January 7, 2015

Massachsuetts Governor Leaving Office Leaves Behind Cadre of Taxpayer Funded PR Flacks, Poorer Taxpayers




Photo by: Boston Herald

The MA Governor shared PR guru David Axelrod with the White House. Both administrations favored spending taxpayer money on PR flacks over solving human problems and helping people. Well, vulnerable people. They had no inhibitions helping wealthy and powerful people. It shows how misguided these politicians are. The most uninformed and greedy people support both politicians. They favor keeping people ignorant and misled so that they cannot understand what they need to do. Jonathan Gruber revealed their attitude toward ordinary voters and taxpayers. Propaganda rules through taxpayer funded deceivers.

[From article]
As he walks out of the State House today, Gov. Deval Patrick leaves taxpayers not just a big budget deficit and a broken health care website but an army of more than 50 public relations flacks costing millions, according to records obtained by the Herald.
The Patrick administration’s press and communications team is spread throughout the governor’s office, departments and agencies — some so obscure taxpayers may not even recognize them — whose primary job was to make the governor look good.
The PR team under the executive branch, which had been slashed in half by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2003, has been beefed up again by Patrick during his eight-year tenure, according to payroll and other records reviewed by the Herald.
One of the quasi-public agencies created by Patrick, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, has a highly paid marketing and communications chief, Angus McQuilken, a Democrat who lost a state Senate race to Scott Brown 10 years ago. McQuilken is now doing just fine, thank you, earning $144,000 a year to promote Patrick’s life sciences agency.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2015/01/deval_patricks_flack_army_costing_state_big_bucks

Deval Patrick's flack army costing state big bucks
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
By: Joe Battenfeld, Erin Smith
Boston Herald

* * *

[From article]
I came to Boston to host a talk show about the same time he began running for governor. In that eight years he turned down every single request to come on my show and debate his ideas — despite the fact we were often in the same studio together at WTKK.
Some suggested he feared a tough interview. I don’t think so. I think he and his key handler David Axelrod are true believers in “base” politics: get your people to the polls, keep your faction whipped up, and forget the middle, the swing voters, altogether. It’s the same style of politics practiced by Axelrod’s other client, Barack Obama.
[. . .]
When he took office, the average household income was higher than it is today. Which means that we, the people, are poorer.
At the same time, government’s income has jumped from $26 billion to $36 billion — almost 40 percent. Beacon Hill has never been richer.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/2015/01/graham_deval_s_legacy_public_left_poorer

Graham: Deval’s legacy: Public left poorer
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
By: Michael Graham
Boston Herald

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