Saturday, October 31, 2009

Slow Saturday Special: Trick or Treat?

Oh, TREATS for YOU, readers.

Many treats today!


See:
The Definition of Slow Saturday

Here, reach into my bag and GET A GOOD ONE!


"New transportation board has familiar faces; 3 of 5 members holdovers from previous panels" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | October 31, 2009

Three of five members of a powerful oversight board Governor Deval Patrick appointed yesterday are holdovers from previous transportation boards that had been enthusiastically eliminated under the mantra of reform. News of the appointments to the board of the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation came yesterday afternoon, issued on a Friday, the day when the administration often releases news it would rather not promote.

Related: Slow Saturday Special: Patrick Knows

Irish Speaker Likes Playing the Ponies

Oh, so it is a BIG GAME YOU ALL PLAY!! No wonder I'm so darn busy and feel overwhelmed and flooded on the weekend.

Criticism from Beacon Hill came swiftly, with many saying the appointments represent a setback for the long-awaited changes to the state’s troubled transportation system. The unpaid board will wield power over billions of dollars in private contracts, thousands of acres of land, and thousands of public employees, making its members some of the most powerful officials in the state, even if their profiles remain low.

The behind-the-scenes looters, 'er, rulers.


Related:
The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy

This state is so f***ed up I don't know how to fix it.


The new state law was written to ensure that the board members had actual transportation, planning, and engineering experience. Critics questioned whether some of the new members meet those qualifications....

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Among those appointed were Janice Loux, leader of the Unite Here! Local 26 union, who has been close with Patrick and has served 12 years on the MBTA board....

Related:
The Boston Globe's Looky Loux

And THIS GUY SAID he was CHANGE back in 2006? We would have been WAY BETTER NOT CHANGING and staying with the Republican executive!


Loux was singled out by several critics who question her expertise in transportation issues. The leader of 6,300 hotel and food service workers, she was instrumental in Patrick’s public feud with former MBTA general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas that ended in August with a $327,000 buyout.

See:
Morning T Ride on the Patrick Prevaricator

Getting Off the T

Ooooh-kay, so they LIED ABOUT the WAY the OUSTER WENT DOWN to SHIFT BLAME to the GUY THEY ended up FIRING -- costing the taxpayers an extra $80,000 in buyout when the job was done in two months and here we are -- and THEN this LYING, LOOTING INCOMPETENT of a guverner trots out the I-DIDN'T-KNOW DEFENSE!!

Your BODY POLITIC is an ILL, DISEASE-RAVAGED, RANCID CARCASS, voters of Massachusetts


She has also been a key campaigner in his bid to bring casino gambling to the state and a champion of nonunionized Hyatt hotel workers fired from their jobs last month and replaced with temporary workers, an issue that drew a boycott threat from Patrick.

Yeah, JUST a THREAT!


Related:
Patrick's Suite at the Hyatt Pure Politics

And that seems to be a
PECULIAR PATTERN down at the AGENDA-PUSHING, 'er, agenda-setting(?) Globe, no?

Now the CANNING of DiMasi makes a LOT of SENSE because THEY ARE ALL CORRUPT!!!!
Being replaced by a PRO-GAMBLING GUY after WE KEEP SAYING NO, cui bono?

Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who leads his chamber on transportation issues, said in a statement that she “undercuts the very essence of reform,’’ an assessment that was echoed by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

“Her interest has only been on union and employee issues,’’ he said. “She never once stepped out and talked about being supportive of any of the reforms we talked about.’’

Patrick said the appointees all have expertise and a willingness to ask tough questions. Loux, in particular, has demonstrated a focus on MBTA riders, he said, responding to criticisms that some view her as divisive.

“I’m not interested in go-along get-along board members,’’ he said. “Sometimes that particular charge comes from folks who prefer to go along to get along.’’

Does this guy know how insulting he is being when he says things like this, or is he just a tone-deaf idiot?

There is a guy I know across town and he's one of those fellas that has no what we shall call social graces, but he just doesn't get it. He's oblivious to it even when he's in the middle of it. That's what I'm seeing in Patrick with this statement.

Loux was conciliatory.

“My first response to Senator Baddour is that I look forward to working with him on this reform agenda that he helped to create,’’ she said. “And again, I think I bring a needed perspective on this board. . . . I think I am the longest-serving board member on the T. I’ve learned a lot about how that agency runs.’’

And how to skim tax loot.

What's your taxpayer-funded pension looking like these days, Jan?

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