Winter Storm Nemo is on its way to kick Boston’s ass this weekend.
Menino and Nemo sound too similar for Bostinnno Reporter Steve Annear to not wonder if the two should merge. I’ve also learned that I’m not as good at using Gimp as I am Photoshop.
Author Archives:
Lukewarm off the presses
Here’s four more posts from my DigBoston.com column.
September 14
Hennigan holds on and LaMattina’s still a loser
In case you missed it, there was an election Thursday night. Just under 11 percent of Boston voters bothered to take part in the State Primary.
Rather than bitching about the dismal showing among voters at the polls, I think the better question is “How did 10 percent of the population convince themselves that this election was worth the effort of casting a ballot?”
Two of the three Suffolk County Court Clerk races provide the most entertainment among the state primaries, specifically because there was no competition among the state legislators from Boston, with incompetent buffoons hoping to capitalize on voter apathy.
With a narrow two percent lead, Patty Campatelli defeated Sal LaMattina for the Suffolk County Probate Clerk, 15,765 votes to 15,154.
Read more at DigBoston.com
September 5
An apathetic voters guide for the apathetic voter
This Thursday (Sept. 6) is the state primary, which at face value might indicate that Boston voters have yet another chance to weigh in on the political process. More likely, the event will mark yet another instance of voters pretending that their vote matters in a series of contests that really don’t.
It’s always fashionable to hit the ballot box, but seriously, anyone who can make a compelling case for actually showing up tomorrow to vote probably spends more time bitching about “undesirables” at community meetings than actually paying attention to their own surroundings.
The Governor’s Council is a position that should probably get more attention than it tends to. The eight-member body works with the Governor in weekly meetings and is charged with providing advice and consent on matters such as judicial appointments, gubernatorial pardons and payments from the Treasury.
Read more at DigBoston.com
The state legislator races in the Boston area may occasionally be a good source for entertaining politics, but this year the real entertainment is coming from the Suffolk County Clark Magistrate race.
One-term incumbent Maura Hennigan is facing a rematch from her 2006 campaign against Robert Dello Russo in a clash of two shameless political jokes racing to the bottom in terms of substance, rhetoric and likeability.
Hennigan, a former Boston City Councilor, grew up with a political pedigree. Her father and grandfather were former State Senators.
Despite this, Hennigan found herself unemployed in 2005 after forgoing another term on the City Council to get smacked down by Mayor Thomas Menino in the mayoral election.
Read more at DigBoston.com
August 20
Bedtime for Democracy
With the upcoming elections for the state legislature, democracy in Boston is alive and well – unless you consider the fact that almost every incumbent is running unopposed, while those who do have races are facing half-assed contenders that do little more than provide the illusion that actual democracy is taking place.
Also, when you consider that Massachusetts, and in particular Boston, is a stronghold for the Democratic Party, most of the races will be wrapped up in the Sept. 6 state primary election.
The Boston State Delegation is comprised of 22 legislators, five from the Senate and 17 from the State House. Of those legislators, just two Senators and three State Reps. face electoral challenges.
Of the five State Senators who represent Boston districts, only two have challengers to contend with and both races have been uneventful affairs, likely ending in a pair of landslide reelections for the incumbents.
Read more at DigBoston.com
One of the gang
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR DIGBOSTON.COM BACK WHEN PEOPLE WERE STILL PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS STORY. DUE TO A TECHNICAL GLITCH, THE STORY NEVER RAN, SO HERE IT IS:
I was all set to write about how boring the various State Representative races in Boston are going to be with most of the incumbents cruising through November without a challenger, and of the challengers there being very few contenders that seem competent enough to put their own pants on the right way, let alone win an election.
And then State Rep. Carlos Henriquez had to go from political superstar to an alleged piece of shit woman beater.
In the early morning hours of July 8, Henriquez was in the backseat with his now ex-girlfriend, when according to reports, he got fed up with her insistence that he take her home, and allegedly responded by striking, and/or choking her.
The victim escaped the vehicle and sought local police in the Northeastern University area, leading to Henriquez’s arrest on kidnapping and assault charges.
It’s also been speculated that Henriquez may have been under the influence, which I’m only willing to believe, because why the hell else would you bother to stay up later than 1 a.m. if you aren’t drunk or high. That’s at least my policy.
Just over a week ago, Henriquez was facing an easy reelection bid against the challenge of Althea Garrison, who most Boston reporters are unable to write about without snickering their way through the phrase “Perennial Candidate.”
Garrison is more than just a crazy person who should probably be kept away from ballot qualification forms. She’s a crazy person who someone manages to magically find the means to run awful campaign ads, despite not declaring any campaign contributions or expenditures. She might actually have to worry about journalists or the state nailing her campaign violations, if anyone ever thought to take her seriously.
Recently, Garrison ran another one of her seemingly free-of-cost campaign ads in the Dorchester Reporter, misspelling Dorchester, while calling out Henriquez as a “do nothing incumbent
One thing is for sure, as soon as you find yourself in race where Althea Garrison has a shot at beating, you fucked up.
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley couldn’t help but weigh in on the matter, given the presence of all of her favorite key elements in a story – violence against a woman, the African-American community, and of course the opportunity to gain some cheap political attention.
“Domestic violence is once again at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness because of recent stories involving public officials. The sad reality is that women and men experience domestic violence every single minute of every single hour of every single day. Nationally, every 9 seconds a woman is victimized. That means 67,200 women will become victims this week,” read the prepared statement sent out by Pressley’s office Friday.
It’s incredible how talented Pressley is in taking legitimately stark and terrible facts and pragmatically spinning them into political talking points that she has no problem regurgitating in between looking down on her own constituents and flagrantly mugging for reporters cameras.
Bear in mind that she sent out a prepared statements to every one of her political contacts without any reporters soliciting the comments.
At this point, I think it’s important to clarify a few things. I, much like a handful of other reporters in the Boston area honestly liked Henriquez for his work and his community organizing street cred. No one wants to believe that someone who is supposed to be one of the good guys, might be prone to committing an inexcusable offense.
That’s yet another thing that makes this whole bag of shit so sickening. We expect the worse out of 90 percent of the hacks on Beacon Hill, and yet we wanted to believe Henriquez was different.
Well he is. He’s even more deplorable than the usual piece of crap politician. He parades himself as a man of people, when in the end he disingenuously takes advantage of that image while still remaining capable of terrible acts of violence.
It would be more forgivable if he was simply embezzling or taking bribes.
Hiatus…
Sorry for the absence, I’ve been getting wrapped up in agriculture. I’m still posting on DigBoston.com, somewhat regularly.
July 12
Soap Box Derby
With one last congratulatory circle jerk, the city’s budget season mercifully ended last week, with every councilor ultimately approving the operating budget, while Mike Ross was the only councilor willing to make a show of opposing the school budget.
If the closing the Council’s budget votes serves as any indicator, schools are likely to rank high on the issues list in the 2013 mayoral race.
Whether they bothered to pay attention or not, voters got a taste of that race during the last few months worth of school budget hearing, with Ross and John Connolly, not to mention Charles Yancey, taking one last opportunity to squeeze some grandstanding out of the process.
Read more at DigBoston.com
May 25
Dark Horse
John Connolly had better watch his ass, I’m starting to think that fellow City Councilor Mike Ross may also be considering a run at the mayor’s office next year, and who can blame him — he’s got the charisma, cash and quite possibly the fire to make it happen.
The 14-year Council veteran may also be the last hope among the former Young Turks to take on the mayor in 2013.
Ross has charisma. He’s doesn’t have John Tobin-level charisma, but he is likable – certainly more so than Consalvo who always seems like he has a baby in his trunk he’s willing to sell.
Read more at DigBoston.com
May 15
Bosom Buddies
Mitt Romney and Eric Fehrnstrom are like two peas in a pod – a hateful, homophobic, douche bag pod.
This week’s announcement from Barack Obama that he supported Same Sex Marriage, naturally elicited directed attention towards Romney’s homosexual issues track record, which resembles the pock-marked pizza face of an overly-aggressive awkward teen who hates the world almost as much as himself.
Recently news has come out on that Romney was an asshole in high school, and not just any wedgie-administering, swirly asshole. We’re talking a homosexual slur spewing, hold-you-down-and-cut-your-hair kind of asshole. But really, this shouldn’t be news. Everyone who lived in Massachusetts during his miserable reign from the governor’s office knows that he has a serious problem with homosexuality.
Read more at DigBoston.com
May 9
Asleep on the job
The annual municipal budget season is always a mixed bag for journalists in Boston, who on one hand, get to see a stream of hearings that provide opportunities for city councilors to posture over their various pet causes, while on the other hand, having to endure hours of mind-numbing budget talk.
This is the time of year that the usually powerless City Council gets incredibly busy. It’s also the time of year when the majority of Boston journalists pay even less attention to municipal politics.
As an example to the nuances of budget discussions, considering the recent comments from a City Council meeting in regards to a $558,394 supplemental appropriation to the city’s transportation budget.
Read more at DigBoston.com
April 24
Party Crashers
I heard a rumor that Suzanne Lee and Maura Hennigan were both seen at the South Boston vigil for Barbara Coyne – the 63-year-old woman stabbed last week, politicking in some form or fashion.
This was just a rumor, but it’s so easy to believe, because really, would it actually be shocking to see a Boston politician using the tragic death of a constituent as an opportunity to drum up for electoral support.
Hennigan was supposedly collecting signatures for her 2012 reelection bid as Suffolk County Clerk, while Lee was supposedly campaigning for 2013.
Read more at DigBoston.com
April 18
Fuzzy Math
Late last year, former Boston City Councilor Maureen Feeney was railroaded by public opinion in her attempt to effortlessly transition into a higher-paying gig as City Clerk, which included a pay bump and an estimated possible $60,000 a year in additional wedding fee collections.
In response last week, the Boston City Council put in place new “rules” because as elected officials it’s always good to at least fake the desire to make shenanigans more difficult for yourself to get away with.
The City Council can’t prevent the City Clerk from collecting without a home rule petition to the state legislature, which slows down the process so much, that if the Council went that route, they would likely loss any political capital that comes from making a show of actually giving a shit about honesty in government.
Read more at DigBoston.com
Tim Cahill’s Clusterfuck
I know, I know, I just posted a link to a Bastard post a few minutes ago. I never got around to posting that last one last week, so today you get a double dose of dick-joke diatribes. Now here’s the teaser:
It doesn’t matter how dopey or out of touch former State Treasurer and future prison date Tim Cahill may come across, it’s hard to not feel sorry for the poor bastard.
Hapless Contender
Considering the way things are going now, there’s a pretty good chance that Scott Brown could find himself back in the Senate, with a little bit of help from Democratic contender Elizabeth Warren.
Schooling the Choices
Last week began what will likely be a drawn-out exercise in futility where Mayor Thomas Menino will fake dedication towards improving schools and fixing the school assignment process by next fall, just in time for him to drop those pretenses to focus on yet another reelection bid.
The Bastard’s new home
Hey everyone. Thanks to the dozens of people who been visiting my blog. I just want to announce that as of today, my blog will now be appearing on http://www.DigBoston.com every Monday, (give or take a hangover).
For everyone that is subscribed to this blog, I will continue to post links to my http://www.DigBoston.com stuff, so don’t worry about missing anything.
Also, did anyone else notice the City Council’s half hearted resolution concerning the foreclosure conflict between OneUnited Bank and the Charles St. AME Church in Roxbury?
Check out Conflict and Disinterest.
Shameless ignorance
Anyone who follows the Boston City Council for any length of time will eventually pick up on the fact that the Council is comprised of hopeless idealists, opportunists, by-the-book hacks and assholes who prefer to be mistaken for idiotic man children rather than allow their prejudices see the light of day.
Case in point, the recent debate over the impending Massachusetts 3-Strikes law.
Just one week out from a meeting that was full of hemming and hawing over the response the Boston City Council should make to the State Legislature’s attempts to enact a 3-Strikes law, the Council finally voted to put forth the anti-3-Strikes resolution.
As part of Governor Deval Patrick’s push for parole reform last year, Patrick demanded a bill that would overhaul how the state handles repeat offenders. What the governor got was two versions of a bill – one from the House and one from the Senate – that includes mandatory maximum sentences for a third felony conviction.
This would essentially bring to Massachusetts a legal precedent that has infamously fucked California.
The House version, opposed by the Black and Latino caucus, along with four White State Reps. is the most severe, with no distinction between, say raping a child and stealing an ipod from someone’s car when determining which felonies count towards 3 Strikes.
The Senate version is a little better, with at least some distinctions between violent and non-violent crimes, while also including reforms to reduce mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent drug-related offenses.
Advocates in Boston – primarily those in communities of color – have been regularly holding forums and speaking out against the law due to its historic bias towards minorities.
It’s remarkable how easy it is to guess where Councilors stood on the 3-strikes resolution based on the demographics of their constituency. Yancey, Tito Jackson, Mike Ross, Ayanna Pressley and Felix Arroyo have actually taken the time to visit one of the many community forums that have been held concerning 3-Strikes.
Predictably John Connolly, Rob Consalvo and Bill Linehan had no problem claiming that they were too ignorant to support the resolution.
I’m not sure what I found more entertaining, Linehan and Consalvo flagrant attempt to appear like bumbling idiots, or Connolly’s fumbling tight-rope walk as attempts to appeal to communities of color, without alienating his West Roxbury constituents who wish there were even more neighborhoods than Roslindale and Jamaica Plain between them and Roxbury.
“I believe, based on my research to date, I am opposed to the 3-Strikes bills,” said Connolly, who amazingly managed to say he’s opposed without committing to the stance.
Throughout the meeting, Connolly kept insisting that if a vote was forced he would support the resolution, but they he was too ignorant to know if it was the right move.
Meanwhile Consalvo, “really want[s] to be as educated as [he] can be on it,” which means ignoring the issue for over a month, including skipping out on a 3.5 hour hearing.
Bill Linehan, who has the cultural awareness of a Southie hooligan two drinks away from looking for a homeless guy to torch, was quick to vow that he would not support the resolution because I assume the only information available to him was online and he still hasn’t figured out how to turn on his office computer.
Mark Ciommo, Sal LaMattina, Matt O’Malley and Stephen Murphy all seemed to want to fine-tune the resolution for another week before a vote can be held.
If you listen to the video of last week’s Council meeting, at one point, you can hear LaMattina and Murphy off camera bitching about Yancey and the fact that anyone is openly disagreeing with them and their desire to hold off on a vote for another week.
For the most part, Frank Baker sat out of the discussions as is typical for a new councilor.
Rob Consalvo’s CityofBoston.gov
City Councilor Rob Consalvo is pushing for the City of Boston to begin selling ad space on its many websites.
I’m not so sure the idea is worth wasting too much time discussing, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be ridiculed.
