Ex Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick and Pals, Traveled Well Using Secret Trust Fund and State Credit Cards

Former Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick

[From article]
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and his wife put taxpayers on the hook for nearly $17,000 in airfare on a single trade mission to Israel, part of an often lavish worldwide tour funded by a tucked-away trust the Patrick administration never revealed to the public, new records obtained by the Herald reveal.
State records tracking the trade mission costs also showed Deval and Diane Patrick took a three-day trip to Colombia in 2013 on the taxpayer dime, ringing up a $8,342 bill for flights that far exceeded what other state officials paid.
Patrick’s airfare on other overseas junkets sometimes tripled that of his traveling contingent, such as a round-trip flight to Ireland reported in state records as costing $5,751. The former governor also racked up a $2,400 tab for a three-day stay at the five-star Merrion Hotel, which bills itself as the most “luxurious” hotel in the city, according to records.
Patrick saved the most expensive flight bill for his last trade mission — $12,356 for just a five-day trade mission to France, Denmark and England, according to records compiled by the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, which oversaw the travel trust fund.
The records also list a one-way flight from Hong Kong to Singapore under Patrick’s name costing a hefty $1,640.
One of Patrick’s traveling companions on several trips was Richard Davey, former Department of Transportation chief and current CEO of the Boston 2024 Olympic bid.
[. . .]
The former governor’s 10 international trade missions have come under new scrutiny by government watchdogs and lawmakers since the Herald first reported that the Patrick administration funneled $27 million from state quasi-public government agencies into trust funds kept separate from budgetary constraints and hidden from public scrutiny.
The Herald first reported that one of the trusts, funded by Massport and the Mass Tech Collaborative, paid for the $1.4 million trade mission costs from 2009 to 2014.
A former Patrick administration aide, Alec Loftus, said the trips were well worth the cost, citing new international flights that the former governor pushed for in the countries he visited.
[. . .]
The $21,141 hotel bill for the Colombia trip was simply charged to a “state credit card,” according to records.
But it’s clear that the former governor and his aides traveled in style. In Tel Aviv, Patrick bedded down at the InterContinental and was charged $1,005, while the room for Richard Elam, the former executive director of the international trade office, cost $1,550, according to records.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/joe_battenfeld/2015/07/battenfeld_deval_patrick_was_flying_high_on_taxpayers

Battenfeld: Deval Patrick was flying high on taxpayers’ dime
Thursday, July 16, 2015
By: Joe Battenfeld
Boston Herald

MA Governor Vows To Investigate False Claim Of Harvard Degree By Community College Trustees Chairman

CLASS ACT? Gov. Deval Patrick said he will look into claims that Middlesex Community College Board of Trustees Chairman Royall M. Mack boasted of a bogus Harvard pedigree.

Photo by: Ted Fitzgerald

[From article]
The Herald disclosed yesterday that Royall M. Mack Sr. — now midway through a four-year term as chairman of the Middlesex Community College’s Board of Trustees — has boasted of having an “Executive MBA” from Harvard’s Advanced Management Program since 2003, even though the school doesn’t award such a degree.
“I’m going to get the facts from the source,” Patrick said yesterday, while insisting that a separate group recommends board trustees before they reach his desk. “I will look into this latest allegation. I don’t have conversations with individual appointees to community college boards (beforehand).”
Mack also admitted to sending the same information to other boards he sits on, including the National Black College Hall of Fame, where he serves as vice chairman. The group’s executive director, Prince H. Brown, said he, too, is reviewing Mack’s credentials.
Mack’s undergraduate alma mater also credited him with having a Harvard MBA in a college newsletter as early as 2002, though Mack said he never gave school officials that info.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2014/12/gov_vows_to_get_facts_on_middlesex_mba_flap

Gov vows to ‘get facts’ on Middlesex MBA flap
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
By: Matt Stout
Boston Herald

Charles Dickens, George Will On Trusting Government

[From article]
Will replied that we have “much more to fear from excessive faith in government than from too little faith in government.” He got right to the point.
The distilled essence of progressivism is that government is a benign -- that is disinterested force, that's false. And, (b), it is stocked with experts who are really gifted at doing things.
[. . .]
The Barnacles are the folks that have fixed themselves on the government teat. Whether they are lifer bureaucrats counting the days till they can retire on that government pension or single mothers on welfare or crony capitalists sucking up green subsidies, they have to believe in government. Otherwise they'd have to get a life. Then there's the liberal professor at a government university, or the diversity dean, or the trainers teaching men not to rape. Of course they all believe in government. They are Barnacles; they have to fix themselves to a host.
[. . .]
we know who human Stiltstockings are. George Will does too. They are the folks dreaming up all the stupid stuff so they can strut around on stilts.
It's fine-tuning the curriculum of our students K through 12. It's monitoring sex on campuses. It's deciding how much ethanol we should put in our gas tanks. It has designed our light bulbs and it's worried sick over the name of the Washington football team.
[. . .]
But liberals are liars and, worst of all, they are lying to themselves. Governments are not there to be trusted. They are simply armed insurgents occupying territory by force and taxing the inhabitants so they can reward their supporters. Governments naturally, by instinct, defend their territory against invaders and against domestic troublemakers. Some governments allow the rule of law to flourish, recognizing that settled law enables their subjects to create wealth that increases government revenue and increases government power. But mostly governments just like ordering people around while they totter around on their silly stilts. Because all power corrupts.
[. . .]
The whole point of the modern social sciences are to help government understand people so as to control them. America's psychology professionals are Barnacles and Stiltstockings. They trust government – to provide them a living and give their lives meaning.
[. . .]
Because government is the name for things the ruling class does by force.

http://americanthinker.com/2014/10/trust_in_government_is_pathological.html

October 7, 2014
Trust in Government is Pathological
By Christopher Chantrill

More People Trust Fox News Than The President on Health Care Law

[From article]
Notice that MSNBC is the most untrusted.
Maybe its because the shills at that so-called "news" outlet have more dishonestly covered this program than any other.
Phil Griffin should be so proud.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/11/13/poll-more-people-trust-fox-news-information-about-obamacare-obama

Poll: More People Trust Fox News For Information About ObamaCare Than Obama
By Noel Sheppard
November 13, 2013 | 12:29

Most Americans Don't Trust Journalists

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/18/majority-of-americans-dont-trust-newspapers-and-television-news

Majority of Americans Don't Trust Newspapers and Television News
According to a new Gallup poll, confidence in mass media continues to fall
By ALLIE BIDWELL
June 18, 2013

Harvard University's Administrator Class Fumbles

Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University

[From article]
“It seems to me that trust has to be based on something,” said classics professor Richard F. Thomas, a member of the Faculty Council. “The request that you make that we have trust suggests there aren’t consequences from this past case that go beyond saying simply, ‘Let’s all talk and get along together.’”
Pointing to faculty’s hesitance in the meeting to address the issue, a number of professors said the case illustrates a larger communication problem between faculty and increasingly distant administrators.
“As the size of the administration has grown over the past 10 to 15
years... it has inevitably produced a sense of unhelpful distance
between the administrative decision-making process and the faculty who
are affected by it,” said History of Art and Architecture professor
Jeffrey F. Hamburger, a member of the Faculty Council. He likened the
experience of trying to speak with administrators about certain issues
to “waiting to get an audience with Louis XIV in Versailles.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/4/2/email-searches-second-round/

Revelation of Second Round of Email Searches Contradicts
Administrators' Previous Statement
Smith and Hammonds Apologize for Handling of Searches at Faculty Meeting
By NICHOLAS P. FANDOS,
Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
April 2, 2013

Fewer Americans Trust Journalists

Curiously, the figures in this survey show that 58 percent of Democrats trust the media. Does that have anything to do with the media bias slanted toward Democrats? Duh!
 
[From article]
Americans are clearly down on the news media this election year, with a record-high six in 10 expressing little or no trust in the mass media's ability to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/157589/distrust-media-hits-new-high.aspx

September 21, 2012
U.S. Distrust in Media Hits New High
Fewer Americans closely following political news now than in previous election years
by Lymari Morales

Trusts For Digital Content

[From article]
Most digital content exists in a legal black hole. “The law is light years away from catching up with the types of assets we have in the 21st Century,” says Wheatley-Liss. In recent years, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Indiana, Oklahoma and Idaho passed laws to allow executors and relatives access to email and social networking accounts of those who’ve died, but the regulations don’t cover digital files purchased.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-inherits-your-itunes-library-2012-08-23

Aug. 23, 2012, 4:57 p.m. EDT
Who inherits your iTunes library?
Why your digital books and music may go to the grave
By Quentin Fottrell

Scientific Method OK, But Scientists Maybe Not

[from article]
"Regardless, while one should trust science as a method — honestly done, science remains the best way at getting to the truth on a wide range of factual matters — there’s no particular reason why one should trust scientists and especially no particular reason why one should trust the people running scientific institutions, who often aren’t scientists themselves.
In fact, the very core of the scientific method is supposed to be skepticism. We accept arguments not because they come from people in authority but because they can be proven correct — in independent experiments by independent experimenters. If you make a claim that can’t be proven false in an independent experiment, you’re not really making a scientific claim at all."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/faith_in_science_ElyzoJm9wNW7Vl7m8ESXYP

Faith in science?
Why skepticism is rising
By GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS
New York Post
Last Updated: 7:17 AM, April 2, 2012
Posted: 10:11 PM, April 1, 2012

Citizens Don't Trust Government? Ya think?

Voters and taxpayers don't trust the government? Huh? Is that news? Look at the kind of people who get elected to office these days. Roger Morris in his book Partners in Power about the Clintons observed that the preferred candidate for leadership, elected and appointed are weak persons with relaxed rectitude, the kind that goes along to get along. Not all leaders are that yet. But most are and soon it will be all. How many Judge Mark Wolfs are there in the USA? Weak officials allow criminals to use government mechanisms to steal taxpayer funds. Without law enforcement mechanisms keeping the government honest the corruption gets worse. Voters remain silent about 19 homicides by an FBI informant now on trial in Boston US Court. They remain silent about a frame-up of four white men for murder by the same Boston FBI. Local police informants and FBI informants are out of control stealing from, harassing and making life miserable for government critics. Most voters fear retaliation from government agencies which is itself a violation of state and US laws. The same corrupt officials enforce those laws. Why are these concerned academics silent at the prestigious Kennedy School of Government about police and FBI corruption? How many academics at Harvard work with the corrupt officials?

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/27/poll-dems-republicans/

Campus Political Leaders React to Polling Showing Government Distrust
College Dems and Republicans agree low trust in government is unsettling
By Samuel Y. Weinstock, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Harvard Crimson
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011

Poll Shows Americans Distrust Government

http://www.gallup.com/poll/149678/Americans-Express-Historic-Negativity-Toward-Government.aspx

September 26, 2011
Americans Express Historic Negativity Toward U.S. Government
Several long-term Gallup trends at or near historical lows
by Lydia Saad

Readers Don't Trust Journalists

[From article]
"Meanwhile, "news" outlets are becoming not just advocates but outright partisans in the worst sense of the term. They treat policy as war, and in wars the truth comes second to winning."

http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/story/index.html?story=/tech/dan_gillmor/2010/12/17/political_misinformation_abounds

Politicians lie: We know it and we don't care
Survey: The public gets that most political ads are bogus, but people still believe things that are false
Salon.com
December 17, 2010
By Dan Gillmor

Nurses Rank First in Trust by Americans

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/you_can_trust_us_on_this_one_3xnZseiI9iQ5kWjtTRz47I

You can trust us on this one
By JENNIFER FERMINO
New York Post
Last Updated: 6:28 AM, December 4, 2010
Posted: 1:53 AM, December 4, 2010

Don't Trust Experts, Verify

[From article]
"Experts — that is, actual scientists, not just Dr. Phil — are often wrong, more often than we might think.

[. . .]
About two-thirds of the findings published in top medical journals end up being refuted within a few years.

[. . .]

As much as 90% of medical knowledge has been gauged to be substantially or completely wrong.

[. . .]

It’s not as hard as you might think to get a desired but wrong result in a scientific study, thanks to how tricky it is to gather good data and properly analyze it,

[. . .]

the vast majority of published research isn’t even verified.

[. . .]

we’re brought up to believe there are always people whose knowledge and judgment should be taken over our own"

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_experts_are_usually_wrong_LsjnnoKdgoOoH5QJHmT5QO

Why experts are usually wrong

By DAVID H. FREEDMAN

New York Post

Last Updated: 5:15 AM, June 13, 2010

Posted: 12:12 AM, June 13, 2010

Obama's Hope Destroyed Trust

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_hope_destroyed_america_trust_SJLH2TssctcpHSeABfoliM

How 'hope' destroyed America's trust
New York Post
Last Updated: 1:09 AM, April 20, 2010
Posted: 1:00 AM, April 20, 2010
Rich Lowry

80 Percent of Citizens Do Not Trust Government

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100419/D9F64DD80.html

Poll: 4 out of 5 Americans don't trust Washington


Apr 19, 8:04 AM (ET)

By LIZ SIDOTI

and

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100419/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsgovernmentpoll_20100419143605

One third of Americans say own govt a threat: Poll

You Can Trust Honest Pfizer, They're Not Like all the Rest



http://bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/view/20091202pfizer_looks_to_rebuild_trust_in_wake_of_23b_drug_scandal_ceo_has_industry_rx/srvc=home&position=4

Pfizer looks to rebuild trust in wake of $2.3B drug scandal
CEO has industry Rx
By Christine McConville
Boston Herald
Wednesday, December 2, 2009